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Changes & Family Values in the U.S.

A number of people claim that family values are on the decline in the United States. The argument over family values in American society begins with the meaning of the term itself, and those who speak of a decline in family values do so as if this were a long-accepted term and as if everyone knew we had family values once and now we are losing them. Actually, the issue is not that clear-cut, and the precise meaning of family values differs from commentator to commentator. A number of changes taking place in society have been cited as evidence that these values are declining, however, and Lillian B. Rubin considers some of this evidence and what it says about the changes taking place in society and in the structure of the family.

Some see the issue of family values as being one of political ideology more than reality. Michele Barrett and Mary McIntosh, for instance, find an interesting anomaly in the way conservatives promote the idea of individualism in terms of self-help, self-sufficiency, and self-support while in fact seeing the unit of self-support not as the individual but as the family. We can see this in our own time with conservatives constantly harping on "family values" and the importance of the family:

Conservatives think that husbands should support their wives and children and that disabled or old people should be able to turn to their kin for help before they seek help from charity or from the state (Barrett and McIntosh 47).

Children and wives can be seen as no more than extensions of men in some ways, and there are various ways in which conservatives mix the individual and the family in their thinking.

It is the idea that something is wrong in society that has led conservatives to decide that a failure in the family is the reason for higher crime, higher unwed birthrates, drug use, and similar social concerns. They see that the traditional family has been less effective in the face of high divor...

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Changes & Family Values in the U.S.. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702646.html