Janet Z. Giele authored the paper entitled ” Decline of the Family: Conservative, Liberal, And Feminist Views” in order to discuss the constantly evolving views that society has pertaining to marriage, parenthood, and child development among various family structures. She successfully presents all the arguments from the warring sides of the issue while staying neutral herself. However, her opinion is not the topic of this paper but rather, my reaction to the results of her study. So far, this is what I have come to learn and understand from her paper.
First of all, the information she gathered helped me to understand that the idea of marriage and a nucleus family has been constantly changing over time, much to the dismay of the liberals, conservatives, and feminists. Since the only thing permanent in this world is change, it is but right that the perception regarding these matters change with the times as well. Let us face it, the basis of marriage and the foundation of a family in the past can no longer be applied to these modern times because the work and financial situations have changed considerably. Divorce rates are high precisely because couples tend to grow away from each other as they mature. That is not a crime, nor is it a sin. We must remember that a loveless marriage will be just as harmful to a child than being born out of wedlock, to a single mother, or a divorced couple. Child rearing these days no longer requires a married couple but rather a loving mother and father who care for the individual they created. It is that individual who needs to feel the love and care of his parents, regardless of his status in life. In truth, removing the stigma on illegitimate children and the like does the child a favor. He should not be held at fault for a choice his parents made for him.
In the end, I came to realize that there no such thing as a decline of the family but rather, only a changing dynamic and understanding of what defines a modern day family and how it performs its traditional roles in society. It is something that the old school believers will simply have to learn to accept and understand because the definition of marriage and a family will only continue to change and become stranger as the days go by. As society changes and the rules about who can get married and how children are conceived continue to be rewritten to suit the modern demands of society, so will the definition of marriage, family, and child bearing continue to evolve as well.