The Decline of the Traditional Nuclear Family - Essay Example

The decline of the Traditional Nuclear Family Introduction There is a tremendous adjustment that is happening in society today. The nuclear family has been the center and the majority of household globally. New figures from the censures reveal that the percentage of close families where the father lives with his wife raising their children is dropping (Brym and Lie 2010). This is supplanted by issues that have risen in the community. For example, the same-sex households, unmarried opposite-sex partners married people who do not have any children et cetera (Brym and Lie 2010). The meaning of a nuclear family as the society used to know is now being redefined by the new gender roles. This paper is going to analyze the decline of the Traditional Nuclear Family. Traditional Nuclear Family Elementary family is a family that consists of a pair of adults; a husband and a wife together with their children. This is typically the basic family unit known in many of the cultures. It is compact and small. The roles are clearly set out; the father is the sole provider for the family unit as well as the protector. The father also stands out as the disciplinarian and a role model. The woman takes care of the household chores and is active as a mother to the children by looking after them. This shows that it is based on heterosexual relationship (Brym and Lie 2010). In the recent years, this setting of the family has undergone so many changes due to some factors that have been introduced to the society. This transformation has taken place slowly for decades due to increasing rates of divorce leading to single parent units, remarriages resulting to extended family units (Popenoe 2008). Characteristics of the traditional nuclear family should be of monogamous state, and heterosexual. All the members hold their responsibilities as set. In other family setting like the extended families, other members end up taking up some of the responsibilities in the family. The size of a nuclear family is small and very intimate to one another. This is because it is build with romance (Brym and Lie 2010). The emotional component is also practiced here where all the members are able to learn to manage emotions such as love, fear, anger and disappointment. The traditional nuclear family is not permanent. The children grow and move away to start their own families and the connection they had with their previous family erodes away. The nuclear family today may have declined due to the diversity of the western societies who practiced other forms of relationships (Popenoe 2008). These new family structures have been spreading rapidly over the decades to the other parts of the globe. This has influenced their states and transformed them thoroughly. Changes have been noticed and also diversity of shifts in the manner in which they performed has also been detected (Popenoe 2008). Responsibilities have shifted, and the view of the society has also been altered. Changes in the structure of Traditional Nuclear Family In the United States the census Bureau shows that 70% of the children live in traditional two parent family, 66% live with married parents and 60% live with biological parents. These figures have fallen down over the past decades. In 2000, 24% of the American household consisted of nuclear families that consisted of the original biological parents, compared to a higher percentage in 1970 of 40.3%. Roughly two-thirds of the children spend a little time in a single-parent family unit (Walsh, Stephens and   Moore 2000). In United Kingdom, 28% of the household in 1992 was made of nuclear families, which fell from 39%, which was in 1968. More people have decided to stay alone, and more kids are being taken care of by single parents and moreover some of the grown up children are still staying with their parents. The young women under the age of 25 are giving birth to children before they become married (Walsh, Stephens and   Moore 2000). Some of the legal systems like the Divorce Acts have made it unproblematic for marriages to be dissolved. These critics are directed to the side of the government. The tax system imposed by states alters the advantage of unmarried couples (Brym and Lie 2010). For example, the last tax break for married couples was abolished in 2000 in United Kingdom, which was the married couples’ allowance. The money was to be taken to the single mothers other than the two-parent families (Walsh, Stephens and   Moore 2000). Decline of marriage and rise of divorce There has been a sharp decline of first time marriages and rapid rise of divorce. It has been taken by the sociologists that divorce is now in the legal sense which makes it easier to be accomplished. The society has also embraced and accepted it. Similarly, individualism is also increasing. Many people are now interested in private personal satisfaction that putting the family in the front (Erera 2001). Women have also taken a role in this by the idea of having less dependence on men. They follow their dreams and careers, whereas, in the previous generations, their ambitions and prospects may have differed (Erera 2001). All these elements and many other combine to increase the popularity of divorce which in the end leads to decline of traditional nuclear family (Erera 2001). New forms of partnerships New types of partnership have emerged. They act as an alternative to the basic unit of the family but do not involve children. These are like, co-habitation, same sex partnership, remarriages and singlehood (Popenoe 1988). Co-habitation is the one that is the most practiced in the society as of today. This is where two partners share a household, and they are not yet married. The figures show that the number has doubled 1985 and 2005 in the United Kingdom (Popenoe 1988). Same-sex partnership has also been on the increase for the earlier decades. Homosexuality has become customary to the point where they openly fight for some of their rights to perform certain things like hold marriages publicly. Gay couples have also chosen to raise their children on their own (Popenoe 1988). Declining fertility rates People are now regarding children as not to be that beneficial in a family. This has led to decline in the fertility rate and a shift in the makeup of families. More partnerships are now made up of adults only they do not consist of children. Sociologists have pointed out to some common factors that have led to this. These are like modern contraceptives, sexual permissiveness, abortion et cetera. In china, the government has come up with one-child policy, which when estimated it leads to prevention of 250 million births (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). Conservative commentators have for a long time tried to change the view of the society but with no avail. Most of the fights that they raise in order to prevent the changes from the known system are lost (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). For example, they have lost in the fight against the same-sex marriage, in several states, in America, but this does not hinder them from still pushing through and convincing the public over the importance of a nuclear family (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). It has been a shock to most of them because the moral landscape that the society had been built upon is falling apart slowly. If nothing is done, then, the society will be known in a different way from the traditional nuclear setting (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). Conservative commentators are trying to intensify their efforts in order to make their case to be heard by the leaders who make these legislations in parliament. The commentators always compare family structures in the recent time and those of 1950s (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). Government on tax relief to married couples/civil partnerships People that enter into marriage or go into a civil partnership enter into a certain agreement. Both of the partners get to be treated as single people for the purposes of tax. If the duty that could have been remunerated by the both parties as one seems to be less than the one paid separately, then they can both claim a tax refund (Popenoe 1988). This is taken as the married couple’s allowance. The tax filing system not only recognizes that relationships can matter for the purposes of taxes, but it also accommodates the diverse relationships that people enter into either with, spouses, partners, children et cetera. The tax policies and other provisions by the government influence mothers to continue living at home with their family. Many governments do not engage in this because they are only concentrating in acquiring the money as tax from the people (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). The traditional nuclear family has profoundly changed over in the recent past decades. These developments will lead to a diminished form of family. The stable environment and behavioral stability practiced in the nuclear setting will change to something undesirable (Popenoe 1988). The moral standards will always be questioned. There shall be no physical and emotional support that comes from the sharing of responsibilities (Popenoe 1988). Debates in the society are now focusing on the concept of family breakdown. The people in these debates are looking for ways to assist in stabilizing the fundamental unit of a family for the whole society and make it be regarded as the cornerstone of every community globally (Popenoe, Elshtain and  Blankenhorn 1996). Bibliography: Brym, R. and Lie, J., 2010. Sociology: your compass for a new world, the brief edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Cengage Learning publishers. Erera, P., 2001. Family diversity: continuity and change in the contemporary family. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Popenoe, D., Elshtain, J. and Blankenhorn, D., 1996. Promises to keep: decline and renewal of marriage in America. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Popenoe, D., 1988. Disturbing the nest: family change and decline in modern societies. New York: A. De Gruyter publishers. Popenoe, D., 2008. War over the family. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers. Walsh, M., Stephens, P. and   Moore, S., 2000. Social policy & welfare. Cheltenham, Glos., U.K.: Stanley Thornes publishers. Read More