Changes in american family during world war 2 - Research Proposal Example

Changes in American Family during World War 2 The time of occurrence of the World War 2 was a period that was consequential for the entire world and more so in America. The impact of the crisis was felt more on the family structure and most scholars have regarded this as a period of permanent family adjustments. The war was characterized by elements of racism, labor shortage, discrimination, and violence, which had a great impact on the family structure. It was a time when women had to join in the war, the Japanese had to move out of America, husbands and wives lost their lives and the society became so poor and family sustenance was a matter of concern. Consequently, many children lost their parents as women lost their husband and this is a sense of family structure change. Although some scholars have pointed out that during the postwar period move to the suburbs, it is clear that World War 2 had more negative impact of the family structure than its positive impact. During this period, President Roosevelt of America advocated that for the greatest level of loyalty from the citizens, both men and women. While joining the army was a career dominated by men, World War 2 saw women join in war to reinforce the army and this became a new change in the family structure; a family where both a husband and wife would be in war and children would be left under the care of their grandparents or under a foster parent. In response to the call of the president, many women were enrolled in the army and they set out to take part in the world war. The entry of women in the war was one of the causes of family instability (Witkowski 149). Witwoski seems to refer to the massive killing that was witnessed during the war that has been regarded as source of family breakdown by many authors of history. In the event of the war, a good number of army members lost their life and the consequence of this is that many children were orphaned. Coupled with the massive killing that was evidence during this period, many parents lost their lives and children were left homeless and unattended (Witkowski 149-150). Resultantly, orphaned children became victims of circumstances and most of them became part of the poverty stricken population in America. Secondly, one of the most significant implications of the war was that most men went to war leaving behind their wives. In this case, many women had to step in and take the role of men in the family. This saw many women change from home care takers to breadwinners of the family. More notably, most of the men killed in the war had to leave their families in disarray. This meant that the women left behind had to become single mothers perhaps for the rest of their lifetime. However, others may have opted to get married again, causing the children to have multiple fathers. While it was a temporary solution to family crisis, this is an issue that brought about a change in the family structure, and America had to appreciate family structures that had not previously been witnessed in this state. Thirdly, this was a period in which the highest order of racism was manifested in the history of America. The Black Americans and the Japanese were among the races that were greatly affected by the sudden surge of racism in this period of war. On the West coast, Americans who had a Japanese descent were discriminate and as the tension of the war heightened they were forced into isolation camps. This was a sensitive matter to the family structure at a period when intermarriage had already penetrated in America. American wives who had married Japanese men were subjected to permanent widowhood and they became a vulnerable part of the society. In addition, Black American experienced a high level of seclusion especially in the job market, and getting a job was not easy in America. If they could get any employment, it would be manual labor and the wage would well below 64 cents (Wheeler 19). Therefore, the Black American families continued to wale in poor health and feeding habits, with some even succumbing to death. As Lamana and Reidmann (17) point out, every aspect of the family is bound to be affected by the issues taking place in their social environment. Racism during the World War 2 became a period of suffering for both Black American and Japanese families. Some scholars have focused on the positive impact of World War 2 on the family and the manifestation of these changes in the family today. Hirschman (107-127) points out to the significant changes in the consumer patterns during a period of economic depression as was in the period of this war. As women engaged in the war, they dropped their traditional activities such as monoculture and on their return, more modest farming methods were adopted. Additionally, this formed a new platform for gender equality and women rank in the society was equated to that of men. Consequently, this became a period when women activists gained a ground to fight for an equal position of women in the society, a war that has remained active even in the contemporary America. From this point of view, the war served to reduce the chauvinistic aspect of the men in the family set up, a tradition that was previously upheld. In conclusion, World War 2 was a period that the American family experienced a paradigm shift, both in the positive and negative aspect. As women took part in the army and engaged in tough war, they left their children under foster care, and their death left many children as orphans. Although this was the beginning of a period of gender equality, it was a time when family experienced high end instability. As the racism tension heightened, mixed race families were destroyed and widowhood became the order of the day. Although there was an economic depression, discrimination of Black Americans in the job market subjected their families to poverty most of them lost their lives out of hunger and poor medical care. From the point of a critical evaluator, the period of World War 2 was a period of family breakdown in the American social set up. Works Cited Hirschman, Elizabeth. Consumer Survival During the Great Depression: Reports from the Field. Journal of Macromarketing, 17 (1), 2000, 107-127 Lamanna, Ann and Riedmann, Agnes. Marriages & families: making choices in a diverse Society. Belmont, Calif: Thomson. 2009. Print. Wheeler, Scott. Going to War with Milkweeds from Vermont. Vermont's Northland Journal 9 (2), 2010. 19. Witkowski, Terrence. The American Consumer Home Front During World War Ii", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 25, eds. Joseph W. Alba & J. Wesley Hutchinson, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research. 1998. Print. Read More