Social Change

Social Change

Part 1: Family Decline

Ever since the time of industrialization, the demands made family forms to evolve and advance due to continuous effects of demographic change. In the last 50 years, families have experienced some vast social reconstructions through divorce rates, change in family patterns, and increased number of elderly people. Some of these changes have brought many problems to society that strives to uphold morals and ethics. The society is worried about these changes, which are economic, developmental and ethical. This study will focus on how families have changed since 1960, and how these changes can be viewed as a decline in family and society strength. The study will also explain how the family can be strengthened to remain relevant.

One of the notable change that has prejudiced family life since 1960s is divorce and remarriage. This involves a separation of men and women who were legally married. In 1960, a family was complete if it had a husband who is working, a wife who is unemployed, and a number of kids. Over 70 percent of American families were of this nature in 1960s. Today, this kind of family setup has disappeared. Only 15 percent of American families have maintained this setup today. The number of families that have separated has tripled since 1950. What the society is seeing today are stepmothers and stepfathers. Cohabitation is a very common practice in the modern society. Many divorced families practice this kind of marriage. Today, gay and lesbian couples are acceptable behaviors in the society. These couples want to form a family, and many of them are involved in raising the children of heterosexual couples who have already separated. These types of families go against the traditional concepts of a family. The society is unable to control such families from becoming acceptable. Although same sex marriage is limited in many countries, its existence has destroyed the reputation of the society.

Since 1960, there has been...