The role of the family has changed through put the years and consequently its structure.

Do you
agree or disagree?

The family has always been a central building block of society. But it has
changed dramatically over the years. The old model of the patriarchal society
has been gone.

To begin with, the pattern of a breadwinning husband and a stay-at-home

wife has all but collapsed. In the early 1960s, the arrival of new babies was
within a marriage. However, now 2 out of 10 babies have single parents without
any marital links. The role of mothers has completely transformed both in the
workplace and at home. They are becoming breadwinners and in some case the
only working part of the family. Today other factors are more likely to affect the
stability of families. For example, American fathers from all backgrounds do
much more child care than previous generation. They share child-care with
women, which is very important for children’s cognitive development.

What is more, in the past family typically consists of dad, who went to
work, a confined to home mum and tree or more kids. To be honest, a generation
ago, it was almost unthinkable the same-sex couples would get married. But
now most people in rich countries think gay-marriage is fine. Moreover, such
kinds of families are widely accepted.

Also, the current family structure has also been affected in the direction of
the nuclear family. Nowadays, the family is usually a group consisting of
parents and their children – no more relatives. This transition has begun in pre-
industrial rural England. And this trend is closely related with the urbanization,
industrialization and modernization in societies. The families today are much
more educated and career-oriented. Furthermore, non-marital cohabitation,
divorce rates, and eventually remarriages are becoming a part of today’s culture
and single-parent family is found more frequently.

In conclusion, although the function of families around the world is

similar, family role and structure differs significantly from society to society and
even from group to group. It’s still a mystery what the future holds for this
changing dynamics.

NATALIYA