How Is Family Changing American Society

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Pages: 5

How is “family” changing in the American society?
Modern life can be stressful in the family, and as anywhere else in our fast-paced society. In comparing the present with the past, the "good old days", we need to realize that many of our worries reflect how much better we want to be, not how much better we used to be. If all you did was watch television commercials, you might think that the traditional All-American family is still perfect: Mom, Dad, a dog, and 2 kids buckle up and driving off every day on TV. However, advertisements are propagandas of guilt: This is the family you're supposed to have, supposed to want in America.
Do you see that couple who has been together for 10 years? They decided it was not necessary to get married, but still be able to adopt a baby boy. That single mother who got pregnant out of wedlock? Her boyfriend began dodging her phone calls and e-mails, and eventually cut contact once he heard the news. Or that gay couple who are planning a second child, via a surrogate mother? They would like to marry, but gay marriage is not legal nationally.
If we look back over the last millennium, we can see that families have always been diverse. In each period, families have solved
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President George W. Bush proposed spending $1.5 billion over five years on a Healthy Marriage Initiative to encourage couples, especially in poor communities, to marry. The department of Health and Human Services is running the program with other organizations such as Southern Baptist Convention and Focus on the Family Group. Bush, a social conservative, said in an interview, ''I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman”; eager to see the federal government defend traditional marriage (Pear). Families are now brought together by the ambitions of getting better rewarded for being together, an illusion that advocates the traditional