Family Politics and Policy

As societal norms change, institutions are required to change with it. There appears to be a disconnect between public demands and private needs, in that the institutions are not evolving with the modern times. The laws pertaining to the family are still lagging behind and exclude many of the new forms of family unions. In Culture of Politics, Hochschild describes four different models of care, and explains which one should be adopted. Although she claims that we are living in a world in which the cold modern model of care is the norm. She also talked about the gender-stalled revolution. It is based on the fact that over two decades women’s days have gone from being predominantly spent in the home to being spent mostly at work. Over the span of two decades nothing has changed in culture to make up for this difference in her day.

Skinner and Kohler’s article also point out the fact that we are lagging in regards to parental rights. The law in terms of custody over children is mostly exclusive to the biological parents. It excludes stepparents, grandparents, and same-sex parents. This is actually quite a sad fact since it is normal for these types of families to exist. I believe that we ended this semester's readings on a little bit of a sad note! The push for society to accept other forms of the family besides the nuclear family may never happen because of the restrictions of the law; we can also see that it is common to struggle to adjust to family diversification, when all semester that is what we have been talking about.

1. Do you think there are policies that can be created to help move society in the modern world? (Example: the growing acceptance and legalization of same-sex marriages)

2. What would happen if we eliminate the laws pertaining to the biological parents? Are they needed to ensure child safety?

3. Are these laws set in place in order to limit us in our family choices? What laws can be created to better suit the changing family? Will this effect our generation in how we think and perceive the family?