The idea of progress : evolving families

I am going to talk about the notion The idea of progress. First of all I would like to give a definition of the terms. Progress is a steady evolution towards a better stage. It is thus the idea that the world can become a better place in terms of technology, politics or medicine. In class, we focused on the evolution of families structures. To illustrate the notion, I have chosen three documents: the first one is called The nuclear American Family; it’s a photo with a text which presented the ideal family, the second is called Back to the good old family, an audio interview about the change of family structures. The last document I used is an audio called Evolving families in the USA. Let me explain why I have chosen these three documents: in my opinion, they well illustrate the evolution of the Americans families, from the nuclear one to the evolving family. We’re going to answer the following problem: How does the evolution of society influence family structures in USA ? My first part focuses on the traditional family, and my second part deals with the evolving family.

In the 50’s, the economic boom and the reconstruction of the American economy impacted on the reshaping of family structures, and it generated a new family structure which is the nuclear family. This type of family had conservative values and there was inequality of rights between men and women as shown by the text and the photo The traditional family. The black and white photo was probably taken after World War II, and the picture ironically shows a stereotypical image of the post World War II nuclear American family. We are presented the ideal image of what a perfect family, which was at the time : a mother taking care of the children and of the house, she is a housewife, a father who was the breadwinner, and two children. But the social changes of the 60’s and 70’s and more precisely women’s emancipation led to other changes in family structures, as shown by the audio called Back to the good old family. This is an interview of Glenn Stanton by a journalist about the changes of family structures in the USA. So Glenn Stanton who has very conservatives’ ideas debates on the issues of gender, sexuality and parenting. He explains that because of the industrial revolution, people moved to the cities, and people mixed with other people. Moreover, for him, as women started working went out on the workplace, they met new people, and it let to infidelity and divorce. He believes that the women emancipation had a negative impact on family life and considers that mother’s and father’s role aren’t interchangeable. This man wants to preserve the old family structure, when the father was the breadwinner and the woman a housewife.

But the situation of women and family profiles have greatly evolved since many marriages now end up to divorces and single parenthood has become common place. Moreover, women have more rights than before and no longer depend on a mate breadwinner. The audio register called Evolving families shows this evolution. Deborah Block, a journalist presents the evolution of family structure in America. We are given a testimony of Kim and Pat Derring, a typical American family with two children who think that marriage is important but also believe that the structure of the family has evolved in a positive way. So they are traditional couple. In the report, we learn that more and more people live together and sometimes

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