Blog #1: Decline of the American Family

In the reading, American Family Decline, Popenoe argues that between the years of 1960-1990 that the American family as a unit has been declining drastically and continues to do so. Popenoe attributes the decline to several different factors, such as the increasing divorce rate, the decrease in the number of children a family has, the change in marital roles between husband and wife, and so on. Popenoe uses numerous statistics to show how certain aspects of the family have increased and decreased over time, most of which show a negative change from the 1960s until the 1990s.

While Popenoe does raise some interesting arguments about the decline of American families, I do not agree with much that he has to say. It is nearly impossible for people to argue that the American family that we once knew has made a drastic change to what it currently is, which is where I stopped agreeing with Popenoe. I feel as though some of the changes that have been made to today’s families were not only bound to take place but were in fact a good change. For example, in the 1960s there was a higher percentage of women/wives who depended on their husbands for things such as financial support, now with more mothers and wives with full-time jobs, the dependence of women on men has decreased, and being a woman that is something that I am proud of and happy about.

In the article, Good Riddance to “The Family,” Stacey agrees with Popenoe in that there has been a change and decline in American families, but does not agree with the reasons that Popenoe gives as to why there has been a change. Stacey states that she and Popenoe have different definitions of the term family. Stacey states, “It is simply anthropologically incorrect to claim that the family was ‘once the only social institution in existence’ (546). In the latter part of Stacey’s article she writes about how sociologists should do away with the current definition of family, the one Popenoe uses, and create a new one, which would encompass all of the new changes that have been made as of the past decade or so, that includes the most recent “diverse family forms.”

One of the most important points I think Stacey made in her article was what she ascribes as the most harmful to children. Popenoe argued that divorce and the loss of a parent has long-lasting affects on children, and while that may be true, Stacey writes that she feels as though the “hostile emotional environment preceding this loss” that in fact has the most damage on children of divorce. I agree with this argument and also feel as though it is more important to remove oneself and one’s children from such an environment if it would allow for a safer and livable environment for those involved.

Cowan’s article, The Sky Is Falling, But Popenoe’s Analysis Won’t Help Us Do Anything About It, was the article of the three that I agreed most with. In the beginning of the article, Cowan states five other factors which he believes are also strong factors that are related to the decline of the American family. These five issues are violence, drug abuse, mental illness, general emotional dysregulation, and loneliness.

Cowan points out Popenoe’s lack of evidence in his arguments and says that Popenoe assumes that there has been a family decline rather than actually showing proof that a decline has occurred. Cowan goes on to point out that Popenoe used only one actual quote in his article, and even that one quote wasn’t didn’t prove too much. I also agree with Popenoe’s five other factors that also affect American families today. I think by Popenoe not including these issues makes his case even weaker because it is rather hard to argue that these issues are not important and do not have an impact on American family life.

In the end I would have to take the sides of Stacey and Cowan. While I do not disagree with Popenoe in that the American family is changing and by his standards is declining, I do not feel as though it has to be seen so negatively. It is a fact of life that all things evolve and in most cases become better, so why can’t families and how they function change as well? Who is to say that the recent changes in American families are not for the better? I feel as though the arguments made by Stacey and Cowan are stronger and that their reasons as to why a “decline in American families” has taken place are more accurate.