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Andrew Willard
Carrie Summers-Nomura
Sociology 210
26 Jan 2013



History of the Family


In talking about the history of the American family, we must first look back to see where
it all started. Beginning with the Colonial period of our country many of the families consisted of
a husband, wife and children.

As our country to grow through the Colonial period, unrelated individuals such as
children from other families or apprentices began to work and live with other families. Husbands
were considered the head of the household and maintained control over their wives and children.
Husbands would sometimes use physical force to control their children when needed as a form of
discipline. Male children by the age of 6-7 were expected to work on the family farm, while girls
of the same age were being taught how to sew, spin and cook.

In some instances, boys were often sent away from their families by age 14 to learn a new
trade, such as becoming a blacksmith, woodworker or brick maker. The roles in the house were
completely divided; men were in charge of planting, harvesting and supervisory tasks. Women
were in charge of cooking, milking, sewing and cleaning. Most families survived by working
more like a production line than an actual family.

By the end of the 19
th
century and into the 20
th
century, economic and political changes
were changing the way the traditional family worked. Woman eventually began campaigning for
the right to vote, taking jobs outside of the home and even going to college. Because of
technological advances, more production of goods through industry took most of the hard labor
away of the children working in the fields and gave them more time to socialize. Schools also
began taking on responsibility of educating children, rather than the parents.
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Prior to WWII, concern over family violence, child neglect and divorce began to make
headlines. These issues forced the federal government to get involved in family life. It was also
during this time, labor laws were passed and families were beginning to emerge, not as a
production unit, but as compassionate models, by showing mutual affections and shared
domestic tasks.

After the America was attacked at Pearl Harbor and got involved in WWII, this war
opened up the opportunity for woman to enter the work force. While the men were sent off to
war, woman stayed behind and began working in the factories to build more planes, tanks and
weapons for war. I believe this was the pinnacle incident in history that proved to everyone,
woman could really work and be productive in doing it! Woman basically kept America going
while the majority of the men fought the war. This also led to problems within the families, when
men returned home. From then on both men and woman figured out they didnt have to stay in a
relationship if they were unhappy, which ultimately led to higher divorce rates in the U.S.

As the 1950s rolled around many people believed these years were the model for how
households should be based on however, it really wasnt as good at is seemed in the movies!
Teen pregnancy was actually higher in the 50s, even though teenagers were actually married at
such a young age. The 50s were also a contributing factor to rising divorce rates in the 60s and
70s. In the 60s the womans movement was in full force and free love and womans rights also
played a role in the crumbling of so many marriages.

When veterans returned home from Vietnam, just like after WWII, woman were forced to
give up their factory jobs for the Veterans and they again started taking up domestic duties at
home. This led to higher birth rates in the U.S., but this again caused problems when woman
started feeling trapped in their positions at home and taking care of kids. This eventually shifted
and the family was normally having the men and woman working outside the house, to having
dual incomes.

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Now that were in the 21
st
century and what we have come to believe families should look
like or what our ancestors early on would consider a family, are not the norm. Many
relationships still end in divorce and many families have dual income. The divorced couples
usually have kids and then one or both parents remarry and either get step kids or have additional
children with their new spouse, which in turn leads to blended families.

Americans, for the most part, have also come to accept gay and lesbian relationships as
the norm and the fact they too want to raise families of their own, is not looked down upon as
it had been in the past. Another trend in American relationships is interracial relationships. For
many years in our country, it was against the law to marry someone who wasnt of your own
race. As time passed this too eased up and those laws were erased from the books and interracial
relationships are now considered acceptable. On a similar note, marrying someone outside your
religion was also believed to be unacceptable early on in our countries history. Not only were
you supposed to marry your race, but marrying someone of your own religion was a must! In
some circumstances, marrying someone outside of your religion could lead to death.

Today many people dont seem to put much emphasis on religion playing a role on who
one marries. Finally so many people have just got tired of the traditional ways of doing things
our ancestors did when our country was first born and now people decide to be together with
another person because they want to be, not because a marriage license says so. All types of
couples are now raising children, buying homes and living together just as married couples are.
These non-married couples just dont have to deal with the head ace of going through a divorce
if things dont work out between them.

To make things simple, I dont believe there was anyone single event in our nations
history that changed our views on families and I dont believe the events that led us to where we
are now were negative or positive. I believe Americans saw the need for woman to help
financially outside the house if they wanted to and it was okay if they didnt. I personally like the
fact my wife doesnt have to work outside the house, but there is nothing stopping her if she did
want to. Because of our beliefs together, we tend to stick to the more traditional way of family
life, but that doesnt make us bad or wrong it just makes us, us!