Is American Family in Trouble

A family is a group of people who are related to each other legally, by blood or through sexual relations. A family usually consists of two individuals who are married, and provide care and support to their biological child. There are many functions of a family, but the main function is to continue/carry on the family’s name in the society.

As the time has passed, the perspective and definition of a family have also changed over time. The definition of family has also been changed generation by generation. The “traditional family” that we all used to know and how it was followed now has a different meaning. The family term now has the different perspective. The functionalist perspectives describe the family as a unit which provides an important function for a society to run smoothly, whereas the conflict perspective defines family as a unit which helps in gender equality in a society. The symbolic interactionist perspective defines family as a unit of social reproduction, which is maintained by family members and finally the feminist perspective defines family as an institution that maintains sexual inequalities.

The change in perspective of the family has affected the American family as well. If we compare the statistics and the perspective that people in America had about family, then we can clearly see a chart that people with family in a big downfall and divorce being at the maximum point. The marriage rate in America has fallen to an all-time low and the divorce rate is all time high which made America world’s number one in terms of divorce. Most of the children in a family don’t have a father while they grow up. The population of Single mothers has been drastically going up since the past decade. Young people and children have been taught that getting family or being married isn’t the first priority. The society now has made marriage and having a family look like it is the least important thing to do by portraying family has a “disadvantage”. The people who want to have a family or want to marry are facing problems such as jobs and finance because they are not able to find jobs which will help them to support their marriage life or family.

In a society, changes are made in order to make things easier or to improve, but if a change affects the system in a bad way, that change should be improvised or should not be followed. The change of perspective of families has affected American families a lot. American families are getting weaker and smaller by every generation. The number that used to make the families in the top tier in the population & family race has hit the ground very hard. Marriage and Family are something that America has to think about if they want to see a rich future of the nation. The American people have to see their future generation and have to take steps to make a stable family and marriage.