Families and Individuals in Societal Contexts

Introduction

The American family has undergone a drastic transformation. The nature and structure of the family has immensely been altered. The advent of modernity has not just had impacts on the technology but also on virtually all sectors of the society which include the family. The American family is currently undergoing a great transformation. The unfortunate truth about the transformation present in the modern society is the fact that there are various aspects of the social set up that are exposing very lethal effects on the society in general and the family in particular.   How the family is able to stand the transformation that is now present in the society is a major challenge that has led to so much struggles and limitations. The alteration of the olden day ways of life has led to the adoption of weird lifestyles that reflect extreme rebellion coupled with other social evils that are directly associated with irrational acts.  The transformation experienced has majorly been among the youths whose motives and approach towards different issues in life has been marred with inadequate experience as well as unacceptable practices whose outcome is mass destruction and remorse. In fact, the youths are now rowdy and notorious more than never before.  They have especially been presented as having completely disregarded the expected ways of life and embraced new ways of life that have led to extreme behavior  and moral erosion. All these changes and challenges have been experienced by the family which is the first place where these youths get the provisions for their needs. Thus the American family has had an unprecedented change with the advent of the modern ways of life (Jones & Norman, 2001).

Analysis of the change experienced by the American family   

The American family is recently undergoing tremendous change. The so-called change has not particularly been positive. The major decline of the ways of life by the vast majority of the American modern families has led to extreme changes in the society that has eventually led to insurmountable erosion of the morals that were traditionally meant to uphold the society together and instill the best behavior in the youths as well as the generations that were to come in the future. The drastic alteration of the modern ways of life has thus led to intolerable habits whose result has been extreme struggles that the American family is now facing. The family is thus undergoing a huge level of challenge as well as extreme amputation due to the experiences that are now being seen in the familial set up and structure.

There are various aspects of the American family that have undergone a complete metamorphosis (Chadwick & Heaton, 1999). The transformation so witnessed has inflicted extreme struggle and a state of dilemma for the family. The encounters and counter-encounters with the various ways of life have thus led to the full change of the modern American family to extreme levels. From the traditional view of the ideality of the family, it is apparent that an American family is composed of three persons: father, mother and the children. However, close look at the most modern American family clearly indicates that this phenomenon is being slowly but surely being eroded from the society. The way things used to be is no longer the case today. The ideal nuclear family has completely changed and embraced unique modern way of going about life.   Either the advent and pursue of the extreme freedom as a high level of transformation has caused the effects that have resulted to the change.

In a society where people highly regard the virtue of freedom and self dictation of own control, the need for individual  freedom as well as self will implementation  has thus led to the alteration of the nature of the modern family. Basically, there is no one person willing to remain under pressures that are meant to instill control and limits. Thus the society has been cumbered with extreme rebellion by the members to embrace of new ways of maintaining a modern family (Wetchler & Hecker, 2003). The extent of the challenges that have been experienced by the modern society has thus been immense. There are those who have completely disregarded the aspect of moral control as well as reliance in the tradition ways to effectively manage the internal locus of control in the familial setups. Thus in stead of having a family composed of all the ideal components, there are limitations to the extent of the transformation that has apparently been experienced.

The challenges that the modern American family is undergoing are basically related to the aspect of embrace of the structural aspects of the societal setups that have eventually led to the decline of the ways that are meant to wreck havoc in the societal setups. There has been toppling of the level of the transformation that has apparently been seen in the societal setups that are prevalent in the society. Thus the modern social setups are limited to the extent of their application of the modern concepts of social structures.  The extent of the modern social setups is the great dilemma that is facing the family. Various social structures have experienced great turn around in order to effectively manage the level of the limitations that are apparently being experienced.

The changes that are being experienced in the modern social set ups are the real causes of the changes that is being experienced in the family. For instance, there has been a high level of drug and substance abuse.  In spite of the fact that there has been use of drugs for a long period of time, the trend has seen drastic reversal in the modern set up. For instance, drugs were still being abused in the 1970s much as they are abused today.  However, the fact that the main abusers of the drugs in the modern society are the youths and the women is a clear indication of the changes that have been seen in the society. The society has thus suffered a great blow due to the widespread abuse of drugs by the main stakeholders who are expected to effectively manage challenges that are prevalent in the society. Nevertheless, substance abuse is easily manageable.

The myriad other challenges that are causing great transformation of the American family are the economic challenges that are being experienced by many families. Economic challenges have changed the behavior of the family members such as high involvement in criminal activities as well as the reversal of roles where for instance children engage in labor to have an income. Thus the multifarious changes seen in the modern American society have led to extreme stresses to the family. The transformation that has been seen in the society has thus led to great change of the society as a result of the change. The constraints that have been channeled to the family as a result of the dilemmas of the society have been immense. The patterns and trends of the modern social set ups have been the cause of the transformational effects on the family. Thus the challenges that are being experienced by a vast majority of the families are real cause of the drastic changes in the society today.

Conclusion

The American family has undergone an immense transformation. The transformation has been both structural and functional. There has reversal of the way in which the family has been exposed to the transformation. The nature of that change that has been seen in the familial set ups has been so much hyped by the extension of the struggles by the family to remain within the social set up; a fact that has completely been intolerable and unmanageable. The modern family has experienced myriad transformations and drastic changes. The American culture and olden nature that was represented in the family have led to innumerable level of control as a result of the changes that have seen in the social settings. There are several challenges that have caused the transformation of the American family. The family has thus declined in the regard of the forces that hold it strongly. The nature of the change experienced has thus led to the decline of the familial structure and the ultimate nature. The pursuit of freedom has altered the need for a complete family with the father, mother and the children. Therefore the changes that have been experienced in by the American family are the perfect replica of the prevailing societal disintegration and ignorance of the norms and values that kept the society under uniform relationship. In view of the characteristics that are being portrayed by the family, there is no doubt that there has been extreme change of the family and that this change is likely to continue its downtrodden nature.

 

References:

Chadwick, B. A. & Heaton, B.T., (1999), Statistical handbook on the American family, Greenwood Publishing Group

Jones, P.J. & Norman, C.A., (2001), The status of the American family: policies, facts, opinions, and issues, National Education Association

Wetchler, L.J. & Hecker, L.L., (2003), An introduction to marriage and family therapy, Routledge Publishers