Question 1: Demographic Changes in US families
The households in America are undergoing unprecedented changes that can affect the well-being and health of the country. Rapid and crucial variations in the family structures, work, and immigration have taken place. Family trajectories and living arrangements are increasingly complex and varied in the nation. The age of entering into marriage is at its all-time high with cohabitation being the first union option in American society. Due to the rise in the numbers of females in the workforce, many women have resorted to remain unmarried in the US. Also, the rates of remarriages and divorce have risen (Changing Families, 2). Marriages have broken down cultural and ethnic barriers as different communities intermarry allowing the US to become more ethnically and racially diverse.
Question 2 (i): Egalitarian Family System
The championing of women rights in the society has created a system that attempts to establish a balance between the roles of males and females. The family structure has not been left behind in the fight for gender equality with the rise of the egalitarian household system particularly in Japan where both spouses share similar rights and authority. The egalitarian system arose due to the situation where both parents have jobs or businesses; hence, they have to share duties in the house. It contrasts the elements of a traditional family structure, but is more focused on formulating and maintaining equality between the spouses in Japan. The system tries to eliminate conflicts that arise due to unfairness, clashes, and lack of trust (Sugimoto, 14).
Question 3: Traditional Family
The meaning of the term family has changed over the decades due to the social acceptance of differences in the community as well as the changing patterns in gender roles. Traditionally, a household comprised of a group of individuals joined by marriage, adoption, or blood who live together to bear and rear children, and form a financial unit (Infobase, Beyond the Nuclear Family). My family thus falls under the traditional definition of a household since I have two parents who are related by marriage and focused on rearing a child. However, the definition fails to consider changing family structures such as lesbian and gay parents, cohabitating couples, children who do not have parents, two spouses who have a pet, etc. There are thus many ways to describe a family in the modern society some of which are controversial and complicated (Traditional Family, 1).
Works Cited
Changing Families, n.d.
Infobase. Beyond the Nuclear Family, 2008. Web. <http://fod.infobase.com.ezproxy.library.berkeley.org/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=40310>
Sugimoto, Yoshio. An introduction to Japanese society. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Traditional Family, n.d.
