Family Stucture

Introduction:

Sixty years ago, the Second World War destroyed millions of European families which directly led to a change in Europe family structures. All families have an identifiable structure: “members, relationship, roles (who does what), rules (how each member is supposed to act), rituals, communication dynamics, physical and psychological assets, limitations, boundaries, and identity”. (N.A., N.Y.) Europe was a traditional continent which used to be based on families. As Dogan states, religion, governments and authority are their families’ “umbrella” that protects the stability of their families. (1998, Vol.39) However, with the decline of religious power and authority, family structures changed hugely during the last 60 years. There are now, more and more single parent families, multi-religious families, multi-national families, and families without children, etc. Furthermore, homosexual marriage has been legal in some European countries, like Netherland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain. Obviously, people are more tolerant to different types of families than before. Nevertheless, the stability of families is weaker and weaker. The definition of a family is that “a kinship grouping of adults and children, who may not necessarily have a common residence”. (Abercrombie et al 2002, 265) Without the same blood line, the members of a family are no longer as connected as before. They do not have the same religion, the same culture or many things which make a family solid. Family is often been garbled with the term “household” which means “a single person or group sharing living accommodation. It is a term preferable to the more widely used family”. (Abercrombie 1994, 166) Hence, the author evaluates the changes in Europe family structures in the past sixty years are more likely negative than positive. The mainly negative changes of European family structures are characterized in four parts. Firstly, the changes in Europe family structures in the past sixty years are probably the evil consequences of the Second World War. Secondly, less and less kids are born every year which leads to a crisis of population in Europe. Thirdly, more and more divorces happen every year which have a bad influence on the next generation. Finally, it is argued that the status of women has been improved in the family after World War Ⅱ. However, today’s society is actually patriarchal but not matriarchal.

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Firstly, World War Ⅱ demolished many intact families and interrupted the serenity and security which families should give to its members. “In countries like Germany, Russia, and Poland, single parent family had been a consequence not of divorce but of the death of the husband in war. World War Ⅱhad tragic consequences for millions of families. Germany experienced a loss of more than 5 million people as victims of war—7.4 percent of the population”. (Marschalk 1984: 149; cited in Diekmann, A. and Engelhardt, H. 1999: 784) Therefore, the war wakened the instability of families by killing millions of men who should be the backbones of their families. During the war and the postwar period, women had to go out and did jobs which should be done by men. This situation was also a cause of the so-called improvement of women’s social status. Besides, children who were born in such a single family supported by women could be plunged into a vicious circle. “Single-parent families invest less time and money in their children’s education. Financial austerity is also a “push” factor that prompts early departure from the parent’s home and raises the probability of early marriage, hence increasing the risk of divorce”. (Diekmann, A. and Engelhardt, H. 1999: 784) Thus, the author commend that the high level of divorce rate in Europe is partly based on the vicious cycle since the Second World War.

Secondly, the family size is smaller than before which caused a lack of fertility and a weak connection between family members. On one hand, fewer children were born during the past sixty years leading to a contraction in European labour market.

Graph 1 (ONS, 2007)

From Graph 1, the fertility rate in the UK was keeping reducing, especially from 1965 to 1980. “Childlessness has been on the increase in recent years. Nearly one in five women born in 1961 was childless, compared with one in ten women born around 1941”. (ONS, 2007) Thus, the labour market in Europe remains shrinking. It also led to a phenomenon that single mothers with dependent children participate in the paid work force. A zero or negative natural population growth in Europe worries the governments because less people mean less “force”. Therefore, European governments are trying to encourage parents to have at least 2 kids. However, the policy does not work well at least for now. On the other hand; religion has had less influence on new couples. People were not allowed to abort or contracept by European religion before. Nevertheless, with the decreasing impact of religion on young people, the popularization of contraception and demands for labour were promoting families to have fewer or even no children. “The idea that children might be a burden rather than a benefit, or certainly so in large numbers, began in the nineteenth century amongst middle-class parents who were worried about their ability to maintain their standard and quality of life if they had a large family”. (Abercrombie et al 2002: 272) Not only in the nineteenth century, even now, are kids sometimes treated as encumbrance of families. There is also a trend that rich people do not have kids, poor people have many children. Yet, Europe has been a rich continent which means children are regarded as families’ burdens. Nevertheless, a family without children only remains a male and a female who have no same blood line. The relationship is visional but flimsy because the roles of family members are promiscuous and the psychological assets are scanty.

Thirdly, the divorce rate in Europe is extraordinary high that adds the society’s burden. Because divorce could bring uncertain factors to the society like single mothers who have to work hard as men; independent children who should not be independent so early; and stepfamilies could also bring psychological shadow to both parents and kids. However, the divorce rates of some Europe countries are extremely high:

AT : Austria
BE : Belgium
BG : Bulgaria

(Eurofound, 2004)

From the table above, only in 2003, in Austria, half of new families went to divorce at last; in Belgium, one of four new marriages would end up with divorce. Sixty years ago, most incomplete families were caused by the Second World War. After 60 years, divorce becomes an important reason of single parent families now. “In most case, children who grow up with the mother after a parental separation experience a considerably reduced standard of living”. (Diekmann et al 1999, 783) Furthermore, children who grow up in a single parent family are easier than children from intact families to have a marriage ending with divorce. In this case, an increase in European divorce rate can impute the death of men during World War Ⅱ since they had no other choice. In addition, according to Diekmann’s research, cohabitation before officially enter marriages will also increase the risk of divorce by 60% to 90%. (1999, 790) The decline of families destroyed their credits of security and serenity. Discomposure brought by divorce could disturb people’s judgment which may cause crime and instability in the society.

Finally, the social status of women are portrayed to be improved that more women go to work after marriage and get high education as men do. It is presented that the gender role has changed to be equal and balanced. “The symmetrical family means that the roles of men and women were less differentiated: one works more and the other one be a housekeeper longer no matter male or female”. (Abercrombie 2002, 289) Depending on Abercrombie, people’s attitude to women has also changed to be more tolerant than sixty years before. According to Social Focus on Women and Men (1998, cited in Abercrombie 2002, 272) There was a big change in the attitudes on women working in Great Britain between 1987 and 1994. In 1987, there were 21% among women and 26% among men strongly believed that a husband’s job was to earn the money; the wife’s job was to look after the home and family. In 1994, the percentage changed from 21% to 5% among women and from 26% to 5% among men. Besides, the number of women who thought doing a job was better than staying at home also increased. Women also got higher education compared with their mothers who could only stay at home and took care of their children sixty years ago. However, the society is a patriarchal society which means men are in charge. Firstly, the improving status of women is because of the whole improvement of our society. Most European countries are rich and focused on completing education system in order to develop to higher levels. Therefore, women need to be taught to make sure both males and females could at least not hinder others. Secondly, more and more women get jobs now and governments also make up laws to protect women’s disadvantages compared with men. But, after work, the role of women in a family still has not changed. The mothers’ role is to cook for the family, take care of their husbands and kids. Therefore, women are even more toilsome than before. Gender roles changes much slower than it is supposed to be.

Conclusion:

With the tolerance of the society, contraception, abortion, divorce, homosexual marriage, and multi-national families are becoming legal and acceptable for European people. They chose various families and got rid of stable environment of a family. Therefore, Europe families have changed into an instable structure gradually since the Second World War ruined millions of families. The reconstruction of European families seems to be failed as a sustainable group. There are four main negative changes of Europe family structures in the past sixty years: the inheritance of the Second World War; the zero or negative natural population growth of Europe; the high divorce rate in most European countries; and the misunderstanding of women’s social status. The war might be the original reason for the changes of Europe family structures. Rich modern European families have fewer kids than 60 years before which may cause a decline in whatever economic or political areas of Europe. Because the decrease of European population would directly influence the voice of this continent. High divorce rate could also impact both parents and kids. Single parent families need to suffer financial and moral burden which would weaken the relationship between family members. And finally, women’s social status is improving slowly and in this patriarchal society, the gender role of women and men can hardly changed to a balanced or equal point. The tiny positive changes in European family structures are not strong enough to compare with negative effects.

Bibliography:

Abercrombie, N. et al. 1994. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. London: Penguin. pp. 166.

Abercrombie, N, et al. 2002. Contemporary British Society. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell. pp. 265, 272, 289.

Diekmann, A. and Engelhardt, H. 1999. The Social Inheritance of Divorce: Effects of Parent’s Family Type in Postwar Germany. American Sociological Review, Volume 64, Number 6 (December 1999), pages 783-793.

Dogan, M. 1998. The Decline of Traditional Values in Western Europe: Religion, Nationalism, Authority. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Volume 39

Eurofound (2004) Eurlife Divorce rate

2008-4-13

N.A., N.Y. 2008-4-10

Office for National Statistics (2007) Fertility

2008-4-12