Fatherhood

Due April 13, 2007, 12PM: Readings:
1. Joseph H. Pleck. 1987. “American Fathering in Historical Perspective.” Pp. 83-97 in Changing Men: New Directions in Research on Men and Masculinity. Edited by Michael S. Kimmel. Sage Publications.
2. Francine Deutsch. 2002. “Halving It All: The Mother and Mr. Mom.” In Families at Work: Expanding the Boundaries. Edited by Naomi Gerstel, Dan Clawson, and Robert Zussman. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
3. Dorothy Roberts. 1998. “The Absent Black Father.” Pp. 145-161 in Lost Fathers: The Politics of Fatherlessness in America. Edited by Cynthia R. Daniels. St. Martin's Press.

Questions:

1. According to Joseph Pleck, how did the role of fathers change in the United States over time? What are the expectations about fatherhood today, both according to the article and based on your own observations?

According to Pleck fathers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century had greater responsibility and influence on their children. They were the source for children to receive moral teachings and gain perspectives on worldly judgments. Father-child relations were at the forefront of familial ties and hierarchy. Beliefs about man’s superiority in reasoning stood as the backbone for these beliefs. Women were weak in this arena. Shockingly, relationships between children had strong emotional components.

In the early nineteenth and early twentieth century, Pleck tells us that new concepts of parent-child relationships began to emerge. Here there was a shift to a greater role for mothers and a decreased and sort of indirect role of the father (distant breadwinner idea). The role of correspondent between man and wife evened out a little more her and mothers had just as much say in marital choices as did the father. A child’s outcome and this point of time was now credited to the mother just as it was to the father previously. The experienced the same judgment. “This gender ideology emphasized the purity of the female “sphere” (the home) and feminine character as unselfish and nurturant. Women’s “purity” elevates her above men, making her particularly suited for “rearing” the young.” (p.5) In realms of divorce, maternal custody now had favor. The maternal role was the dominant theme in this era.
In the 1940’s to 1960’s, the father became a role model as far as sex is concerned. Maternal influence at this time was still strongly on the rise. With this came criticism of the maternal role and along with it a perception of the father’s direct importance in child rearing came about as a sex role model. This is known as one of the first positive images of involved fatherhood that had a significant impact on culture. Because of a woman’s strong emotions and attachment to children, it was believed that this lead many children and young boys to homosexuality. In turn fathers were seen as essential for the sex role development of all children. The father was seen as the moral pedagogue.
Today, the role of the father follows an egalitarian view while at the same time encompassing the passive role that we saw in the 19th and early 20th century. Today father are to aid families and children in all aspects. Whether that be socially, economically, psychologically and so forth. Father input is seen a lot more today. A father’s presence is now wanted in births and all activities of both son’s and daughters. The father as the breadwinner role I believe is slowly dissipating. Egalitarian beliefs in my own experience are emerging more and more, even though I have run across a few households that feel it is a woman’s job to know how to cook for example and to have meals prepared.

2. According to Francine Deutsch, why do couples with children decide to work alternating shifts, and how is that decision related to their social class status? How does these families' division of labor compare to their gender ideologies? Would you select an alternating shift arrangement for your family?

Social class status stands out in this article. Primarily it seems to focus on blue collar working families. The idea of alternating work shifts is apart of a new uprising one might say. In alternating work shifts, these parents are taking turns in the care of children while the other is working. It seems that now that our society is turning away from the idea of the breadwinner and the necessity of money continues to rise, this alteration in families is simply a means of survival and it makes things in the family arena easier to handle (in some cases). But this lifestyle is still seen more in families that have low incomes. If these parents can share care and both work, that means more money for the family and no needs to worry about child care providers. This keeps families more involved with their kid’s day to day lives. And considering that most of the families that use this method are lower class, even if they did try to get outside childcare, how good of quality would the childcare be? People don’t just want to put their kids with anyone, so the alternating thing works much better for these individuals. Family values and certain connections can not be made if these people’s children are in other people’s hands.
As far as social class is concerned, we have to consider that this stands out so much because of the types of jobs these individuals have. The existence of a breadwinner in such households is nonexistent. The idea of values was brought up a lot in this article and I think that because of this reason alone, these parents refuse to leave their kids alone while but parents are out at work. So once again the alternating thing, maybe one parent working the night shift and the other parent another works.
Even in these nontraditional arrangements, the idea to maintain traditional arrangements (women being the primary childcare givers and staying home, men being the breadwinners, and women handling things, etc) in the house still exist. This is so funny to me because these families want to have the traditional lifestyle with the father as the breadwinner of the family and the mother as the stay at home parent but it is almost economically impossible for this to happen. And even despite this women are still wanted and still seen as the emotional centers of families and so forth.
I personally would only choose this lifestyle if it was economically and personally needed. I see how this is an alternative lifestyle for people in such situations but at the same time it makes me wonder how the rates of marriage survival can survive. Husbands and wives could easily get caught up in the motions of work, lose aspects of communication that is important in any marriage, cause jealousy seeing that one parent is there when the kids are up and at it and the other isn’t, and so forth. It seems like a hard lifestyle but in life sometimes we have to do what we have to do for survival. I don’t think anyone would willing choose this unless it was necessary or for other personal reasons.

3. According to Dorothy Roberts, what are the societal forces that discourage family participation of Black fathers? What elements of Black fatherhood led to the creation of the myth of the Absent Black Father, and what patterns of Black men’s behavior contradict this myth?

There are a variety of different societal forces that discourage family participation of Black fathers and no this article does not mention all of them. One fact that the article points out is the idea belief that there is a “cultural” acceptance of single mothers. Black people in general, not just black fathers are at high rates of unemployment and this is due to social forces, stigmatizations, marginalizations, inequalities in the workforce, schools, etc that black people continue to face. Incarceration rates of black men appear to be high but this article fails to acknowledge the many reasons this is so (racial profiling, resorting to deviance for survival, etc) and how the ignorance of our society to recognize these factors has in turn affected the individuals within this race.
Black men (and the “black” population) fall into stigmas constantly. These men face labels that state that they are incapable of providing financial care to their families and women are quick to drop them out of their lives if they see that these men cannot provide financial stability. Beliefs surrounding commitment and the lack thereof, the negativity that surrounds them for having children out of wedlock/ having kids when finances don’t support so can completely overshadow what some black men do in an effort to be in their child’s life.
I think our society and people within this world tend to focus on the negative things that black males do. It is very seldom that we (black people, society, media, etc) highlight the good, positive, influential, motivating, respectful, and natural things that a lot of males under this one race do. As if we can even say the black man does this and the black man does that because in reality what is black. None of us especially here in America are one race. We are all mixed. I think it creates problems when we try to put people in racialized categories. Did anyone forget what happened to all the races during slavery, and the rapes and the new generations that came about? Fathers in general these days are working to provide care even though they may be absent in the home. I think it is unfair to say this is what black me are doing and what they aren’t and not consider the forces that keep them and subject them to these economic situations and views on life in general.