當(dāng)代美國婚姻和家庭模式的變化及影響

1、當(dāng)代美國婚姻和家庭模式的變化及影響The Changes and Influences of Marriage andFamily Patterns in Modern AmericaAbstract: Family is the basic social institution and the bedrock of all societies. Family structure and family life can mirror the moral values of the society, its cultures, and its national characteristics.

2、The American society has changed a lot since the 1960s in material wealth. The enormous material wealth and the development of science and technology have also pushed people to look for more self-fulfillment. As a result, people are more and more concerned about individual rights. The society as a w

3、hole has become more tolerant toward people who do not follow the traditional cultural patterns. Meanwhile marriage and family patterns have experienced tremendous changes under the influence of these changes. The changes have tremendous influences on the American society, men, women, and children.

4、Marriage and family patterns in our country have also experienced changes these years. Studying the changes of American marriage and family patterns can provide us some valuable information.Key words: American marriage; family patterns; changes; influences摘 要：家庭是社會的基本單位， 也是社會的基石。 家庭結(jié)構(gòu)和家庭生活亦可反映出社會的 價(jià)

5、值觀，文化特性和國民特征。 20世紀(jì) 60 年代美國社會在物質(zhì)財(cái)富方面發(fā)生了巨 大的變化。物質(zhì)財(cái)富的充裕， 科學(xué)技術(shù)的迅猛發(fā)展促使人們追求自我享樂， 整個美 國社會對傳統(tǒng)價(jià)值觀的態(tài)度的轉(zhuǎn)變影響了美國的婚姻和家庭模式。 文章主要探討了 美國婚姻和家庭模式的變化，以及這些變化對美國社會和人們的生活產(chǎn)生的影響。 研究美國婚姻家庭模式的變遷的經(jīng)驗(yàn)結(jié)果對我們研究全球化時代中國婚姻家庭的 變遷課提供有益的參考。關(guān)鍵詞： 美國婚姻；家庭模式；變化；影響ContentsI. Introduction .1II. Literature Review 1III. The Changes of the Marria

6、ge .2A. The tendency of late marriage 2B. High rate of divorce .2C. Marriage between the same sexes 3D. Marriage between different races .3IV. Diverse Family Patterns .4A. Nuclear family .4B. Blended family .5C. Dual-Employed family .5D. Single-parent family 6E. Cohabitation .7F. Single life .7G. Ch

7、ild-free family .7H. Gay and lesbian family .8V. The Causes and Influences of the Changes .8A. The causes of the changes .81. The changes of value .82. Materialism and competitive environmentsssssssssss .93. The changes of family rolessssssssssssssssss.94. Social toleration to the alternative lifest

8、yle and the changes of lasws.9B. The influences on societsy ssssssssssssssssss .101. Increasing the burden of womansssssssssssssss 102. The influences on childrensssssssssssssssss.113. Increasing the burden of the governmentssssssssssss .11VI. Conclusion sssssssssssssssssssssssss 12.s 13Works CitedT

9、he Changes and Influences of Marriage and Family Patterns in Modern AmericaI. IntroductionSociety refers to the people who live in a country or region, their organizations, and their way of life. The America n society has cha nged a lot since the 1960s as the enormous material wealth after World War

10、 n pushes all groups of people to fight for their rights. The Civil Rights Movement and the Women Movement changed sig nifica ntly the social and econo mic con diti ons. The eno rmous material wealth and the developme nt of scie nee and tech no logy have also pushed people to look for more self-fulf

11、illme nt. As a result, people are more and more concerned about in dividual rights. The society as a whole has become more tolera nt toward people who do not follow the traditi onal cultural patter ns. And marriage and family patter ns have experie need treme ndous cha nges duri ng theseyears, too.

12、People have more choices than ever before and they can end a marriage if not satisfied and then remarry. Family patter ns have bee n diversified with the prosperous econo mies, wome ns self-aware ness, differe nt attitudes toward social values, etc. All the cha nges have great in flue nces on the Am

13、erica n society, childre n, men and wome n.II. Literature ReviewMarriage is the foundation of the growing family and family is the bedrock of the societies. The developme nt of society and the cha nges of family patter ns is a hot topic in America. The researchers pay close attention to the changes.

14、 There are many statistics about the rate of marriage, divorce and family patter ns which show the cha nges of America ns attitudes towards them and the cha nges of the traditi onal values about marriage and family.In 1960, the pills were widely used in American, which helped control the wome nspreg

15、 nancy and the birth rate, and men and wome n felt more safe and free to their own sexual behavior (Wang 277).The married couple made up 74.8 percent of all household types in 1960, dropped to 65.4 perce nt in 1975, and is projected to drop further to 54.9 perce nt by 1990. The estimates for the fem

16、ale -headed family went from 17.2 percent to 23.6 perce nt in 1975 and were projected to 29 perce nt by 1990. (Da niel 50)This article mainly talks about the causes and in flue nces of the cha ngesof the marriage and family patter ns. Compared with the cha nges of America n marriage life and family

17、patter ns, Chi na suffers the same problems in creas ing divorce rate, and marriage without child, etc. Our nation can learn from their changes, and avoids the bad situati ons exacerbat ing.皿.The Changes of MarriageWhat is marriage? Marriage is a legal union between a man and woman as husband and wi

18、fe. Since the women situation had changed a lot, the marriage changed, too. The traditional marriage pattern is that a married couple legally live together and give birth to their children. But there is a tendency that there are fewer and fewer people gett ing married or choos ing to marry at a late

19、 age. More people end their marriage if they are unhappy. As many people fail in their marriage, divorce and separatio n have become much more com mon in rece nt decades.Divorce is on the in crease, and there is a higher divorce rate, but many divorced people do eve ntually remarry.A. The tendency o

20、f late marriageFewer and fewer people would like to marry at an early age. Since 1960s the proportion of married men and women under 15 are far less than before and the proportion of no marriage experienee keeps increasing. In 1970, there were 15.6 perce nt of white people over 18 and older that had

21、 n ever bee n married, but by 1991, this figure had risen to 20.5 perce nt (Wang 492).A man and a woman may cohabit or live together without marriage or before marriage. In this case, man and woma n are no Ion ger boun ded by the traditi onal marriage patter ns and they are much free to lead a life

22、they dream of. What more, no wadays, wome n pay more atte nti on to their own developme nt, and they are not only restricted to the marriage and be a house wife any more. They have the abilities to walk out and hunt for good jobs to support themselves. People are aware of self-fulfillme nt and self-

23、worth; they would pursue their won derful dreams in stead of beari ng the burde n of family at the early age.B. High rate of divorceThe eno rmous amount of wealth caused people to believe in more equality and social justice. Mea nwhile, the ever risi ng expectatio n of wome n to be perfect wives cau

24、sed an xiety among many of them. There was a tendency that people after World Warn became less patie nt with the old traditi on of the putt ing the family wellbe ing first and bega n to dema nd more self-fulfillme nt.Wome n bega n to doubt if stay ing at home serv ing the n eed of their husba nd and

25、 childre n were all they should do. With the Wome nMoveme nt, wome n had achieved equalities in political, social, educational, and economic life. Due to all the changes, wome n no Ion ger n eed men to support them and become more and more in depe ndent. They can do what they want and what they like

26、 and fulfill their ambition on their own. They are struggli ng for the equal rights all the time, and legal divorce is part of them.As the freedom prevailed in America in early 1960s, the rate of divorce was on the con ti nu ous in crease. Toward early 1980s, divorce was the ending of a marriage bet

27、wee n husba nd and wife, and the experts estimated that it would in crease to 67 perce nt (Bureau of Cen sus 68). Nowadays, society is more tolera nt to the divorce, and many American have come to view divorce as a natural experienee and make con tributi ons to the high rate of divorce.C. Marriage b

28、etween the same sexesBefore 1960s, homosexuals suffered a lot of discrimi natio n and were con sidered as lun acy, and many of them were scared to unv eil their true ide ntity to the public. By 1960s, the homosexuals formed their own orga ni zatio n and struggled to obta in the equal right. In 1970s

29、 and 1980s, with the development of the campaigns of homosexual rights, America n public become much un dersta ndin gly and tolera nt of the alter native lifestyle. Many states and federal gover nment add the items of an ti-sexual discrimination in the anti-discrimination policies and laws.When the

30、U.S. Ce nsus was con ducted 1990, it shows that 150,000 same-sex pare nts of the whole population cohabit in American in 1990s and 594,000 in 2000s. On February 4, 2004, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts struck down the state law which had banned same sex marriage. On May 17, Massachusettsbecame th

31、e first state to allow same sex marriage (Zhou 238). It seems that the rights of homosexuals will be accepted one day. They will be regarded as the normal and live a happy life.D. Marriage between different racesThe United States has always been described as melting pot ” in which many different rac

32、ial and ethnic groups have assimilated into one culture. Actually many races remain their own traditions and for the most part of the melting has meantAmerica ni zati on confronting to cultural patter ns of the mai nstream America n society. So there is another description of America society-salad b

33、owl, where the various racial and eth nic groups have rema ined somewhat disti net and differe nt from one another, creating a rich diverse country.There are many races in America n society, such as WASPs-White An glo-Sax on Protesta nts. Native America ns, Africa n America ns, Hispa nic America ns,

34、 and Asia n America ns. WASPs are the dominant race in America n society and others are the minorities, all of them make great contribution to the development of America.Si nce 1960s, the nu mber of marriage betwee n differe nt races is on the in crease. By 1960s, all couples of differe nt races wer

35、e about 149,000, and in crease to 651,000 by 1980. What more, the number of 2000 and 2003 has reached to 1,460,000 and 2,090,000 respectively.In general, the minorities are much easier to get married with other races which can be drawn from the declaration of racial identifications from two or more

36、races. In 2000 U.S. Bureau of Cen sus shows that the declarati on of the n ative Hawaii with other pacific isla nd in habita nts, In dia ns, orig inal Alaska, Asia America ns, and Africa n America ns of two or more races are 54.4%, 39.9%, 13.9% and 4.8% respectively and the proportion of whites are

37、only 2.5% (U.S. Census Bureau 7).IV Diverse Family PatternsBegi nning in the late 1950s, a wave of social cha nge swept through America n life. Almost every America n family was affected. The structure of America n family had experie need treme ndous cha nges over the past few years. At the beg inni

38、ng of theth20 century, the extended family-consisting of two or more adult generations of the same family shari ng a com mon households and econo mic resources-was the dominant family pattern in the United States. Today, in the minds of most American, the American family has meant a nuclear family.

39、There are also other types of family in America, such as blended family, child-free family, single-parent family, gay and lesbian family, cohabitation and independent living, etc.A. Nuclear familyNuclear family consists of parents and their children who live apart from other kin. In old days, a grou

40、p of people in a big family lived together and shared the wealth together. But now, many families are headed by a married couple. Mother and father have an equal voice in making decisi ons. Childre n grow up in a complete family and enjoy a lot of happy times with both their parents. But the proport

41、ion of nuclear family which once has bee n the dominant family patter ns has steeply dropped dow n in rece nt 20 years.In late 20th century, the nuclear American family that consisted of a breadwinner father, a homemaker mother and children were less than 15% of all American households. The rest of

42、American lived in other family forms, such as child-free family, single-parent family, single life which in total surpassed the dominant modern nuclear family showing the value of the bourgeoisie in 1950s (Stephanie 33).B. Blended familyThe in crease in the divorce rate has led to the creati on of t

43、he ble nded family, i n which at least one member of adult couple is a stepparent. People divorce if they undergo a bitter marriage, but they would like to build a new family again. Some of them choose to remarry with the people of the same experie nee to ble nd together two families into one, some

44、of them will marry some one who n ever marries, and they do want to leave a new happy family life with others who seem to be suitable life companies. It is estimated that slightly more than one American family in six is astble nded family. If curre nt trends continue into the 21 cen tury, about one

45、out of three adults in the United States will spend part of their lives in a blended family (Fan 231).In a dramatic change from the traditional bitterness of divorce, many parted pare nts are doing their best to be cordial, eve n warm, especially on the most importa nt days of the year. They want th

46、eir lovely children to grow up in a happy and healthy environment. But it still has negative effects and this will be unfavorable to their children when they are growing up. A great number of peoples whose parents separated in their early age, and then build a new family eventually ended their marri

47、age in divorce just follow the steps of their pare nts. But many couples and their childre n adjust successfully to their remarriage, and they con sider their new marriage and family to be a great improveme nt over the previous one.C. Dual-Employed familyOne importa nt shift in America n family patt

48、er ns is that in a large majority of these families, both husba nd and wife have bee n employed and have double in comes. Women Limbers started a social and political movement which aimed to achieve wome ns liberatio n by orga nizing groups and campaig ns and by caus ingin dividual wome n and men to

49、 cha nge their attitudes. As a result, wome n have obta ined many equal political and legal rights. The economic and domestic lives of women have been cha nge a lot the n. Wome n are no Ion ger confined to their homes to do housework and take care of the childre n. In 1940, only about one out of sev

50、e n married wome n worked outside the home. Today in more than 70 percent of married couple families with childre n both work outside.Women in dual-employed families deal with more trifles and family chorus in their daily life, though they have their own work to do. In many cases, fathers are still

51、the breadwinner and they are responsible for the large cost of the families. But it seems that mothers are more tired in this kind of family, because they have to spend a lot of time look ing after their childre n and husba nds while work ing.D. Single-parent familyIn some families, only one pare nt

52、, with his or her childre n lives together. It may be the result of the divorce, separation or desertion. This kind of family is also called one-parent family or a Ione-parent family. Mother or father alone brings up the child. Nowadays there appears more and more sin gle-pare nt families in America

53、 and of all family types, sin gle-pare nt families have in creased most rapidly duri ng the past few years.In 1970s, 12 percent of the total American families were comprised of single mothers with childre n un der 18, which in creased to 24 perce nt in 1980s, and continued increasing to 26 percent i

54、n 1995 (Daniel 56). The children with single-parent are lack of either maternal or paternal love, and probably meet with the physical problems or obstacles which are harmful to their growth and developme nt.E. CohabitationCohabitati on means that two people live together without legal marriage, whic

55、h has in creased dramatically over the past few decades. In the Un ited State, cohabitati on has become much more com mon. As cohabitati on before marriage is in creas in gly widespread, many wome n can be found cohabit ing with their future husba nd before marriage or people after divorce live toge

56、ther without marriage aga in.The reasons of cohabitation are as follows. People are more tolerant to the alter native lifestyles. They choose to cohabitate as a way to escape higher rate of divorce, they do not trust marriage can bring them happ in ess. More and more people would like to live togeth

57、er and thi nk they lead a happy life. Moreover, due to more job and educational opportunities for young people, and economic hardships, a large nu mber of wome n choose to delay their marriage to pursue their own careers which also make con tributio ns to an in crease rate of cohabitati on. Young pe

58、ople are in cli ned to live together because they are in an age of cav ing out their own career and they are not sure live one place for life long time. They may choose to cohabit with their boy or girl friend and fight for life hard together, if they want to change their jobs to ano ther place and

59、they are not meeti ng of min ds, the n they can split up peacefully.Experie nee shows that aga inst good wills, couples who cohabit before marriage are more likely to divorce tha n those who do not cohabit (Axi nn & Thornton 1992). So it seems that cohabitation is not a good way to keep a better marriage.F. Single lifeSingle life refers to people who live by them