Institutional Study of Marriage and the Family
Institutional Study of Marriage and the Family
The Three Myths I chose to write on were Myth 2: The Self-Reliant Traditional Family, Myth 4: The Unstable African American Family, and Myth 5: The Idealized Nuclear Family of the 1950’s. The Myth of the self-reliant family leads people to assume that, in the past, families were held together by hard work, family loyalty, and a fierce determination not to be beholden to anyone, especially the state. It is popularly believed that such families never asked for handouts; rather, they stood on their own feet even in times of crisis. The families of yesteryear did not accept or expect “charity.” Authors debunk this myth by stating that U.S. families have always depended to some degree on other institutions. For example, colonial families made extensive use of the collective work of others, such as African American slaves and Native Americans, whose husbandry and collective land use provided for the abundant game, plants, and berries colonial families consumed to survive. African American families have been the subject of far more sweeping generalizations and myths. The most pervasive myth, the myth of the collapse of the African American family, is fueled by racist stereotypes and media exaggerations and distortions that overlook the diversity of African American family life.
According to social historian Andrew Billingsley, three distinct classes are visible in the African American community: (1) a small upper class (approximately 10%) that stresses family and is politically conservative; (2) a middle class (approximately 40%) concerned with family, respectability, and individual and family achievement; and (3) a lower class (approximately 50%) made up of stable working-class families and both stable and multi-problem poor families. It is generally from the multi-problem poor families within the lower class that stereotypes and generalizations are made about all African American families. The authors state that to generalize these behaviors to the entire African American community, however, is inaccurate and misleading. Moreover, to attribute these behaviors, when they do occur, to a deteriorating, immoral family life-style and a lack of middle-class family values ignores historical, social, and political factors, such as a history of servitude, legal discrimination, enforced segregation and exclusion. The myth of the Idealized Nuclear Family of the 1950s leads people to see the family as a middle-class institution consisting of a wise father who worked outside the home;...