1950年以来美国家庭模式的变化及成因
A Study on the Caus of the Changes in American Families Since the 1950s
[Abstract] In the latter half of the twentieth century, great changes took place in America families. The bread-winner-homemaker family, which was popular in 1950s, no longer predominated in the United States, and the number of single-parent family, unmarried cohabit family and mixed family incread continuously. Meanwhile, divorce rate incread to a great extent, birth rate decread noticeably and cohabitation rate has been climbing up. Thus someone believed that the America families were declining. Others thought that the family type of bread-winner-homemaker of the 1950s should be rebuilt. This paper points out that the nuclear family prevailing in the 1950s was only a special phenomenon in a special historic period. Its decline did not indicate the death of the family itlf. And the American families turn to diversity in which none of the types predominates.
The paper aims to provide a general description of the changes in America family since t
he 1950s, emphasizing especially the changes in nuclear family and analyze the caus of the changes.
[Key Words] American nuclear family; family structure; family changes
1950年以来美国家庭模式的变化及成因浅析
[摘 要] 20 世纪下半期，美国家庭发生了巨大变化，五十年代男主外，女主内的核心家庭模式不再占主导地位，而单亲家庭，未婚同居家庭，混合家庭的数量却在不断上升。同时，离婚率大幅度上升，人口出生率下降，未婚同居的比率一直在攀升……。一些人就此认为美国家庭正在走向衰亡，另一些人认为应该重建 20 世纪 50 年代男主外女主内的核心家庭模式。而本文则认为五十年代核心家庭模式的普遍流行只是特殊历史时期的特殊现象，它的衰落并不代表家庭本身的消亡。美国家庭的趋势是走向多样化而并非一种模式占主导。
本文旨在描述1950年以来美国家庭变化的总体情况，重点描述核心家庭的变化，同时分析其变化的成因。
[关键词] 美国核心家庭；家庭模式；家庭变化
1. Introduction
In the cond half of the twentieth century, a diver range of family types has replaced the breadwinner-homemaker family that once predominated in the United States in the 1950s. Significant trends occurred to the family life in the U.S. Divorce is much more common. Young adults are postponing marriage and often living with a partner prior to marrying. A growing number of children are born to mothers who are not married. And many more married women are working outside the home. Some people predict that the family is in the process of disappearing entirely. Others lament recent family changes and think that family pattern was rooted in unusual historical period, and its decline cannot be en as a sign of disappearance of the family.
A family is indeed in the midst of a major institutional transformation, and then the current level of family instability is temporary. The main trend of the American family is toward diversification of family forms rather than a single standard form.
The paper aims to provide a general description of the changes in American family since t
he 1950s and emphasize especially the changes in nuclear family and analyze the caus of the changes.
2. Definition of family
“A family is defined as consisting of two or more persons, related by blood, marriage, or adoption, living in the same houhold.” [1] P112 But to understand families and the specific relations they reprent, we must recognize that the term “family” is socially constructed; that is the meaning of family changes in respon to a wide variety of social and cultural conditions. To reflect this understanding, we often refer to families in the plural. Multiple meanings of family are reflected in the historical and cross-cultural record. For example, in ancient Greece, “family” referred to the houhold economy, including the land, hou, and rvants. In medieval Europe, peasants who lived on feudal estates were considered part of the lord’s “family” and he was called their “father” even though they were not related to him by blood. In some cultures, non-kid adults are treated as fam
ily members and act as co-parents toward children. Similarly, in contemporary Native American families, the terms ud to describe family relationships are more meaningful than narrow English usage would imply: a “grandmother” may actually be a child’s aunt or grandaunt, and “cousin” may have various meaning not necessarily bad on birth and marriage.
However, sometimes we also make generalizations about families by referring to “the family” as a social institution—many expectations and activities embedded in a larger number of social, economic, legal, political and cultural practices. In this paper, it places the term “family”, as a social institution in the latter half of the 20th century in the United States.
3. Changes of American family
“A careful look at what did and did not happen to America families in the postwar period would be helpful for us to avoid any misleading notions about the trends and to examine i
ts underlying caus.” [2] P20
3.1 A changing nuclear family
A nuclear family, in which father acted as breadwinner and mother as homemaker, consists of a conjugal couple and their children. In the1950s, it was very prevalent. But now it has evolved. The paper shows the changes on the marriage, divorce and birthrate in American family since the1950s.
3.1.1 Marriage and divorce
One of the key changes in American family is that marriage rates have fallen significantly since 1950 despite a small ascent from 1960 to 1970. It went up moderately in 1980 and then went down in the following years. As the marriage rate went down, the divorce ro, with its peak in the late 1970s.
The rising trend in the divorces has been going on for a long time since the 1950s, and w
e e a slow drop-off in the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1980s and early 1990s, five of ten marriages ended in divorce. In the coming decade, we can expect continual high levels of divorce, perhaps dipping down a bit so that four of ten marriages will dissolve.
Another significant change in family union formation process has been the postponement in marriage since the Baby Boom. Chart 1 shows the median age at marriage among American women and men over the past century.
