Idea of progress : How does the evolution of society influence family structures?

I am going to talk about the idea of progress.

I would like to give a definition of this notion: The idea of progress as far as family is concerned dis inevitably connected to the evolution of modern society. We will answer the following problem: How does the evolution of society influence family structures? First, I will speak of traditional family models. In the second place, I will talk about of breaking family models. Then we will look at the new family types and last but not least we will explain at new family relationships.

Foremost, in the traditional families before the war the families were numerous. On this image, a large American family composed of the parents and six children are posing a little stiffly by the tree. They all look neither particularly happy nor sad, so we can deduce the picture illustrates the idea that large families have their good and bad points. Next, the nuclear family is a family group that consists of a father, a mother and children. With the text of Linda Nicholson “the nuclear American family” we look that the nuclear family is typical in US on the past World war II. The family wanted to be conformed to the ideal image of a perfect family with the parents and the pushchairs lined up. After the great depression in 1929, several generations used to live under the same roof and sometimes even with people who didn’t belong to their family. In the 50 s economic growth and the reconstruction of American economy directly on the American society and the family structures.

- Higher salaries

- Several mortgages

- Massive housing construction

- Creation of suburbia

Last, At the end of the 1940s, the divorce rate suddenly dropped, women started getting married at a younger age and having more children than before. As a consequence, women's role changes dramatically as their lives became almost exclusively family-centred. as they were told that their function was to be wives and mothers, having a career was seen as improper in the 1950 and the average family was essentially nuclear.

In addition, the term "breaking family models" is used to show that there has been an evolution since the nuclear family. New laws were passed as laws on abortion, same sex-marriage. In the picture which is an humoristic cartoon we are introduced a man who has just been awarded a prize is thanking his family. His family seems to be rather unusual since there are “biological and surrogate mother”, two fathers “my two dads” to thank. The cartoon shows that nowadays a family is not merely composed of a father and a mother and a new family structures may include surrogate parents, adoptive parents, same-sex parents, which shows that society has evolved, that’s why family models is breaking. The evolution is visible on women who have more rights. Traditionally, the mother was a housewife while the father was the breadwinner, but as women started to emancipate, they no longer considered themselves as only childbearing and child-raising mothers. Women have the right to divorce and have the right to take a contraception.

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