The Family Institution in Todays Society

The Family Institution in Today’s Society
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The structure of modern families has changed over time, as people have embraced new family values. The shift in attitudes has also been influenced by expectations about the role of individuals in a family set-up. As more women have entered the workplace and economic pressure has increased, families have are smaller families compared to earlier times. The traditional view of marriages as one man and woman with their children has also changed with the more progressive individuals arguing against gendered roles in relationship. The growth of secular values has also meant that cohabitation and divorce are not harshly judged in the more liberal societies. The importance of family values also influences political decisions as the conservative parties support traditional values compared to liberal parties, which may champion for LGBT causes especially in western countries including the U.S.
In the family set up, marriage is the main institution that defines peoples’ attitudes and also signifies the structure changes of the last generation. Given that marriage no longer plays a prominent role in people lives like before, while increase in the rate of divorce reluctance to enter into divorce signifies that people still accord importance to marriage (Polomeno, 2007). The notion that people should stay in marriages a when they feel trapped seems unreasonable. In the previous generations, there was pressure from immediate family members and the society to maintain marriages even in cases where the husband or wife did not get along. However, since America is an individualistic society there is less inclination for people to stay in unhappy marriages, but the most religious are likely to stick with marriages based on hope and belief that things would work out since marriage is ordained by God.
The traditional intact families have declined over time with the rise in divorce rates and liberal views. Intact families are still the major family set ups by single parent families and blended families are on the rise. The rise of single parent female headed homes has mostly affected women who get children while unmarried while also less likely to suffer public disgrace compared to earlier times. At the same time, the decline in the traditional intact families has been affected by divorces (Polomeno, 2007). Previously married and first time married people are increasingly being step-parents of their partners’ children. This is a major change from a time when married couples raised their children till they are all grown up without divorcing. Nonetheless, the changes are not uniform since religious people tend to shun divorce and single-parenthood than the general public and are less likely to be step parents.
Even though, there is preference for having children for married couples, there is less desire to have large family size. Traditional views on the importance of child-bearing have also changed since women are not necessarily homemakers like in the past generations. Other than this, is the change in attitude towards supporting autonomy for both adults and children. This has been accompanied by change in attitudes by raising children to a mo...