Chapter 3: The Family In Historical Perspective

Summary:

The third chapter of the book discusses the history of the family. It begins by discussing the colonial family. It starts by discussing family structure. Nuclear families were the most common form of family in the early US history. The children were spread fairly randomly in age due to high infant mortality/death rates. The family is described (just to name a few) as a self-sufficient business, a school, a vocational institute, a miniature church, a house of correction, and additionally a welfare institution. The Puritans frowned upon sexual relations before marriage, though they tended to be less than successful in preventing these relations nevertheless. Husbands and wives were quite different in colonial times as compared to now. In these times, the man was clearly the head of the household, with the woman having a subordinate role to the man. Divorce was rare, but in certain circumstances, it occurred (acceptable grounds were desertion, adultery, bigamy, and impotence). In these times the man was supposed to provide all economic support for the household. Women were “expected to support them and be frugal.” Between ten and thirty percent of children did not survive to the age of one, and only two out of every three children lived to the age of ten.

The European colonial family was not the only family structure that existed in these times, however. Another group of interest was the American Indians. Though the structure of these families differed from group to group, polygyny was somewhat common and they exhibited a matrilineal setup in many cases. Surprisingly, divorce was almost painless, and not so rare of an occurrence (the book describes it in terms of the Zuñi tribe). Unlike in most colonial families, the children were not kept under incredibly strict rules/regulations, and led a somewhat carefree life. Another individual culture that the book focused on was African Americans. The main focus here was on slavery and its impact on their culture. It was very difficult for slaves to find a spouse in these times, as it was common for slaves to not be allowed to associate with one another. Despite the fact that owners pressured many of the African Americans to marry, the marriages were fragile and many of the family members were kept apart. Fathers often had to act as surrogate fathers to many of the children and mothers were almost always overworked, having to essentially work double to finish the work in a day.

The book also discusses the golden fifties, which was a time after World War II. Women were not welcomed in the workplace because the returning soldiers needed somewhere to work, and women in the workforce were simply competition. The gender roles seemed to flip again, and women were once again encouraged to be full time housewives. Additionally, during this time two thirds of the families that had lived in cities began moving from those cities into the suburbs. The book also says that even though many people remember the fifties as being “perfect,” realistically they were far from it and many of those beliefs were simply myths.

The family since the 1960s has changed considerably. Gender roles have once again changed, pushing for equal rights instead of the push for women to take full time roles as wives or mothers. Additionally, economic concerns have begun to play a key role in families as it has affected so many of them. The book argues that change in families is the norm, rather than stability as some might like to believe, and that some of the most noticeable differences among the different families over time have been due to both the choices open to them and constraints put on them as well.

New/Interesting/Unusual Items Learned:

I thought that the section on the golden fifties was interesting. I had never really put much thought into how there was a gender role swap once again and a push for women to essentially leave the workforce. It is interesting that this role swap has once again occurred as now the push is for women to be in the workforce, or rather, have the choice to be in the workforce if she chooses to be.

Discussion:

I think it would be interesting to look into a comparison of Native American families and early European colonial families. The families were so drastically different (key differences that I thought were interesting were divorce and child rearing). I think it would be interesting to then take that comparison and steer it to looking at the children and their development back then.

Karl Wahlen