Modern society Essay

The modern family is obviously in many ways different from the traditional family types that existed in the past. A tally of trends argon at work nowadays shaping the modern, or, as some scholars put it, post-modern family (United Nations University). These factors affect the basic foundations of the family and reconfigure the roles of all members of this institution, receiving different evaluations of psychologists, economists, and sociologists. Professor Yount from Emory University notes that modern American families have undergone a dramatic sociological change in the past decades.Thus, the size of household declined among Caucasians and African Americans and rose among Hispanics, the percentage of households headed by married couples declined from 78 percent to 53 percent in the period from 1950 to 1998 (Yount, 2005). In addition, the proportion of dual-earning couples has increased significantly, creating a new economic reality (Yount, 2005). Today, the woman is increasingly c hange as much as or even more than the man to the family budget, a fact that has implications for her economic role in the family.A woman is more likely to remain financially independent after divorce or even lose money in divorce proceedings to her husband. This has positive implications for children that atomic number 18 slight likely to remain without support after the parents separation and benefits the society, creating a new workforce pool. Against this background a noticeable trend is certainly an appalling divorce rate. In a certain sense, this trend works against growing importance of women as bread winners, contrisolelying to in trade protection of childrens well-being and putting heavy financial pressure on spouses that take custody of children.On the other hand, divorce rates are connected to the new level of womens involvement in the workplace, as well as modernization of womens roles in general (Swanson 20041). In a sense, divorce is the result of growing equalit arianism in family relations, a trend clear from the psychological perspective. Families become more and more egalitarian in the sense that younger and older members, women and men are achieving a more equal status in many ways. However, Swanson (2004) also points out that perfect egalitarianism remains elusive.Most men and women aspiring to ca-ca egalitarian families in the times of their courtship face a reality in which they cannot attain this desired ideal and instead lapse into traditional strong gender roles. This becomes even more of a problem with childbirth. Although men tend to have a greater role in parenting than before, women are still trusty for most of it, and it tends to re-shape the roles in the family toward greater participation of the woman in household duties and increases her workload relative to that of the man.Thus, a study conducted in Switzerland reveals some moderate tendencies towards less sex typing of task allocation in such items as administrative c ontacts, gifts, holidays, cleaning, but there seems to be a hard core of tasks wake very little change (cooking meals, washing) (Levy, Widmer, Kellerhals 2002). There are many other changes obvious in the psychological realm. Values and foregoingities in family life are undergoing a constant change.United Nations University in its article on the post-modern family notes that todays families see optional participation in most aspects of communal life, high levels of loneliness and choice as opposed to compulsory participation in all aspects of communal life, lack of privacy and personal choice. Because of lower level of requisite participation in communal activities, raft experience a shift in the nature of identity, often associating themselves with a greater number of fluid social groups. Values become less constant, and social roles are changing.One interesting trend pointed out by Professor Gillis of Rutgers University is the growing virtual character of peoples confederat ions with home. Many spend little time at the place associated with their home, something underscored by the fact that homemade and homecooked is likely to be made anywhere but at home (Gillis 20007). On the other hand, modern communication possibilities in the form of Internet, cheaper long-distance calling and other ways allow for greater connection with relatively remote places.This creates prerequisites for a deep psychological change in the mentality of people who feel at the same time estranged and proximate to their relatives who they see less frequently, but can communicate with from a distance. A word should also be said about the emergence of non-traditional households, starting from cohabitation prior to marriage that can now last decades to transvestite households and those including several couples. Welcomed or abhorred, these families also have a presence in the modern society.As to homosexual couples, we see these days a clear trend toward legitimizing these relatio nships. This can have far-reaching consequences for modern families. There is a greater scope of opportunities for adoption of children, greater security for members of such families that previously lacked social security, and other economic and social advantages. However, there is also an opinion that the prevalence of these arrangements destroys the foundations of the regular family. Thus, families nowadays undergo a gruelling change that occurs on sociological, psychological, and economic plane.Most often, these planes prove to be deeply interconnected in many ways. Thus, divorce has roots in growing egalitarianism and shift of values that affect the psychology of young people who get married. On the other hand, it has profound economic ramifications, creating instability and jeopardizing the financial well-being of women and children in most cases. Overall, the modern family demonstrates many trends, increasingly exhibiting diversity and fluidity in definition of patterns and v alues.BibliographyGillis, John R. Our Virtual Families Toward a Cultural Understanding of new(a) Family animateness. Emory Universitys Center on Myth and Ritual in American Life Newletter Working Paper No. 2 (2000). 19 November 2006 . Levy, Rene, Widmer, Eric, and Jean Kellerhals. Modern family or modernized family traditionalism? Master status and the gender order in Switzerland. Electronic Journal of Sociology (2002) Universite de Lausanne. 19 November 2006 .