Over the past fifty years, families have changed a great deal. During the 1950's the "traditional" nuclear family, of Leave it to beaver and other sitcoms of that period- was defined by one of its defenders as"a legal life long sexually exclusive, heterosexual monogamous marriage based on affection and companionship, in which there is a sharp division of labor with females as full time housewives and males as primary provider and ultimate authority."(Kimmel 2004 P.117) But in 2050 you can be pretty sure all this will be thrown out the window. Of course we still will have mothers and wives who believe that being a housewife is the best possible thing in a marriage, but we will also have the women who do not believe its the only way. In families of 2050, women with jobs will increase greatly, thus making husbands feeling more neglected and we will see a higher divorce rate or most likely women will not commit to marriage at all.
3 comments:
I agree with your statement that family life in 2050 is going to be out the window. If you look at today's society now we are so different than we were 50 years ago. 50 years ago you were looked down upon if you were a divorcee. Today divorce is normal. I think that in 50 years people won't even be getting married anymore because of the strain of family life. It will make it easier to de-attach yourself from the people you used to be connected to. The only problem is, what about the children?
Jennifer Marino, August 7, 2007.
I think marriage will always be here to stay. They may not last but people will always search for love and romance. I believe we will see more same sex marriages and children raised in non traditional families. Research suggests that:
Married people live longer and generally are more emotionally and physically healthy than those who aren't married.
Married people need less health care.
Married people exhibit increased satisfaction and happiness in the workplace
Married people exhibit decreased feelings of loneliness and boredom
Married people have prolonged access to increased intimacy
Married people report greater levels of sexual fulfillment and frequency
Children of a marriage of one man and one woman receive the benefits of learning from role models of each gender. Each gender brings different strengths to the table and in marriage; children can receive a balanced influence of the two.
You are finding marriages more common in areas of the country outside the larger cities. Big cities are drawing women into careers and independence. Women will always search for romance and men seem to want to marry as many do it over and over.
Work Cited
Wilson, Lee. 2005. The Future of Marriage: Is it Becoming Extinct? Family Dynamics Institute. Retrieved August 8, 2007 from, http://www.familydynamics.net/marriagefuture.htm
Pamela Peters, August 8, 2007
You are right that the leave it to beaver period is gone and out the window. It will be replaced with non-traditional families. In the year 2050, there will be more couples who choose to not marry but live together and have children, more single moms, and more homosexual couples with children. “…as gays and lesbians create their own families, the numbers are increasing. According to statistics from the coalition, about 67% of lesbians have children, compared with 72% of straight women. About 27% of gay men have children, compared with 60% of straight men” (Carroll 2000). Life expectancy will increase and it will be more grandparents staying with there grandchildren. This will help when parents are off working they will not have to worry about someone keeping there children, or they will have to worry about finding someone to take care of their parents and children. It will be more stress for the sandwich generation. Taking care of you mother/father and your children will be even more stress for single parent homes. Single parent home will increase due to women getting more rights and not depending on a man to take care of her. “Many single parents are better educated and are able to support themselves so marriage is no longer a financial prerequisite to parenthood. Under enormous work-pressure families are splitting-up and giving rise to single parenthood” (Kimmel 2000). In the year 2050 things will be like they are now but just more of it.
Carroll, Jonathan David. “The New Nuclear Family. What Was Once Inconceivable” The Austin Chronicle. August 28, 2000. http://weeklywire.com/
Kimmel, Michael S. The Gendered Society: Second Edition. Oxford University Press. 2004.
~ Sabrina Nichole House
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