The American Family

Questions:Explain the debate surrounding the contemporary changes in American families (“American Family Decline” debate). According to Popenoe, what indicates that American family is in decline? What are the Stacey’s and Cowan’s critiques of his argument? What position would you take in this debate and why?


The debate surrounding the contemporary changes in American families is whether the actual institution of "nuclearl" family is in decline or is it simply transforming or changing. Popenoe defines family as a domestic group of people which typically live together in a household and function as a cooperative unit through the sharing of economic resources, in the pursuit of domestic activities. There are many demographic, institutional and cultural indicators that show a decline in this definition. His argument regarding the decline of the american nuclear family, basically claims that there have been attitudinal changes in our society regarding the idea of marraige. This change is a negative one and is only one of the many reasons that it is in decline. Some of the things he focuses on is family structure, marital dissolution, and family change. He claims, "that our society has disclaimed the role of wives in the traditional nuclear family and heavily discarded the basic structure of that family type--two natural parents who stay together for life. " (p.531) He believes that we are in the process of rejecting the nuclear family itself and this is being replaced by stepparent families and and single-parent families. One main factor that affects this, is the growing incidence and acceptance of divorce. It's almost as if there is a widespread retreat from he claims. The institution of marriage itself has been in steep decline in recent years. This itself may explain the increase in single-parent families, children born out of wedlock and absence of fathers. Marriage has come to be understood as a pathway toward self-fulfillment, strictly voluntary , and completely deinstitutionalized. "[...] fewer persons are marrying and they are marrying later, more marriages are broken by divorce, and those marrying are having fewer children (creates problems with population replacement). " This "weakening" of the family unit is very problematic in his eyes and may have adverse consequences not only for our kids but generations to come. We as a society need to be aware and very concerned about this.

In Stacey's response to David Popenoe, she makes it clear that she finds agreement in Popenoe's argument/ belief that "the family" is in decline but she also admits that their conceptualizations of "the family" are fundamentally uncomparable. She claims Popenoe's definition of family is positivist one and it ideally signifies the family with a male primary "bread winner", female as the primary "homemaker", and the dependent offspring. Hi definition and claims of declination. lack consideration to factors such as race, class, gender, and sexual diversity. His analysis in itslef, is based upon a "flawed" history and what she calls anthropology of kinship. She states that, "Popenoe fails to analyze the postindustrial economic transformations that have eroded occupations that once paid a family wage to male breadwinners at the same time that opportunities and necessities for female employment have expanded." (p.546) She agrees with him, in that a woman's capability to survive outside a marraige goes hand in hand with the rising rates of divorce. The institution of marraige itself has become fragile and less obligatory. But divorce is one of many concerns we should have. There are many "social sources" and so forth that add to the distress of the contemporary family. And egalitarian marriage systemis not possible for all when we consider our present conditions within our society. This concerns economic, political, social, and sexual inequalities. What we describe as a stable marriage is dependable on various forms of systemic inequalities. Finally she states that Popenoe's claims regarding divorce and its effects, are not as detremental as he claims. We need to focus more on and define a universal environment that can be stable no matter what diversities surround the "family."

Cowan's critiques of Popenoe's analysis of the american family focuses mostly on Popenoe's lack of statistical evidence. He seems to think that Popenoe made rather too man "assumptions" about the decline of the american family without doing the proper research. Cowan also thnk that Popenoe could have made a stronger case if he ventured beyond his focus on the family as an institution. Popenoe needs to consider surrounding factors such as upheavals in social problem like drug abuse, mental illnesses, violence, emotional deregulation, etc that dwell in our daily lives. He acknowledges that Popenoe's argument is conflicting but he warns researchers not to ignore the message that Popenoe points out and to in turn take the research further. We need to understand the causes behind the changes in the structure and function of the family, pay attention to societal trends, and figure out what can be done to reduce the prevelence of our family distresses. "Popenoe's conclusions about the causes of family disintegration consistently blame the victim and ignore the synergy of social forces that place American families at risk." (p.539) Popenoe simply needs to demonstrate rather than assume.

I personally lean toward the idea that the ideal "American family" is changing/ transforming. There are so many things that researchers and historians need to focus on and look into further. Until we as a society and as researchers can see more liable evidence of these claimed negative effects we can't cause alarm. This subject itself has so many areas and deals with so many types of populations, that there is no way that assumptions can claim to have any revelevance aor take root in our minds. We see in these articles what types of ideals and traditions this nuclear family is based on, so why it is that were trying to maintain it I'm not sure. Why it is that an institution such as marraige that can only survive on some sort of inequality concerns us im not sure either. It would contradict some of the very things that our political movements and so forth have been working for. If our kids spend part of the day care they will live. No individual needs to be around a parental figure 24/7. I understand the necessity to do research regarding this "epidemic" but I don't think that this "decline" is something to be alarmed about or cause dramatic concern. Research can help us document the changes of our "traditional" family system but I think that change is a good thing when considering this subject.