The decline of workers contributing to Social Security means there will be less benefits that will be replaced. Currently the Baby boomers have the highest labor force participation of any generations in American history. (Crain, 2006) The generations following the Baby Boomer generation will not have the numbers to replace the Baby Boomers place in the workforce. According to Crain (2006) nearly 90% of the Baby Boomer generation works, which is over half of the entire workforce in the nation. About 80% of female Baby Boomers worked which was also a contribution to the two income family.
Anne Oakley argues that we still live in a patriarchal (male dominated) society, and therefore women occupy a subordinate and dependant role within the family and wider society. Overall it could therefore be argued that rather than partners becoming more equal, women now have to carry a ‘dual burden’, whereby she is responsible for two jobs of unpaid or paid labour. Factors such as patriarchy and conforming to a gender script will lead to these divisions. It could be argued that the money management within a family has an effect on the
Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships (24 marks) Feminists have helped change the tradition view of the family. There are two types of feminists; liberal and radical. As shown in the item they take a ‘critical view’ of the family arguing that it is patriarchal and focus on the ‘gender inequalities’ in housework and violence against women. They believe gender inequality is created by society and is not natural. Functionalist Murdock suggested as children we are socialised into societies shared norms and values and he believed that males provide the economic roles and females provided the expressive role.
By the 1990s lone-parent mothers had a 2 in 3 chance of being poor. Women's greater life expectancy, their lower wages, lack of private pensions and disrupted employment patterns also help to explain why the majority of the elderly poor are women. At the other end of the scale, families in the top 20% of income brackets are most likely to contain a married couple (at least one of whom generally has a university degree), live in a major city, and own a home and a car. Women in these families, families that are the most likely to conform to the stereotypical but distorted image of the family, tend to be either professionals and managers with high-paying jobs, or they stay out of the labour force. Today the majority of married women are working or are actively looking
Another change that has happened in childbearing since the 1970's is that women are having fewer children and children later in life. Between 1971 and 2005 the average age of a women when having her first child rose by three years. Also the average number of children per family went all the way down to 1.84 in the UK when 30 years back it was 2.95. Women are also choosing to remain childless and a prediction has been made that a quarter of people who were born in 1973 will be childless when they reach 45. This all reflects the changes in society since the 20th century and that women have more options
Chapter 15 1. What factors bind marriages and families together? How have these factors changed, and how has the divorce rate been affected? Education and financial stability matter, “The decline in divorce rates varies by social category. It has declined dramatically for women college graduates, whereas less-educated women have experienced virtually stable divorce rates” (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2011, 402).
Most men remarry within three years. Most women remarry within 5 years. As a result, blended families are developed and increasing at an astonishing rate. The American Association of Christian Counselors reports that remarriages after divorce tend to be unstable, break up more often and end quickly than do first-time marriages. Remarriages are 50% more likely to divorce in the first five years compared to first marriages.
According to Divorce Rate, “between the ages of 20 to 29 the divorce rate is greater than couples 30 and older.” Some statistics say at least 66 percent of younger couples end up divorced because of childless issues. The only thing that tends to hold the marriage together would be love. Yet, some say that love tends to fade. While others say the contrary. Couples that have children tend to have a lower divorce rate.
New right thinkers however; believe that these laws undermine the traditional male dominance in families, but many believe these new policies for women and children strengthen the family rather than weaken it. Sociologists such as new right thinkers argue that the Labour party has constructed a ‘nanny state’ which over-intervenes in personal living arrangements. The Labour party have constructed many laws beneficial for women in families as they have realised most families now rely of two
Today abuse consists of men and women not applying for jobs, having more children just to obtain more aid, and staying unmarried to qualify for greater benefits. It is a system that has helped many people become government dependent and indifferent to work. According to the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, there has been “…$2.9 billion in questioned costs; with $23.3 million in recoveries and $2.8 million in fines and a further $25.5 million in settlements, judgment, and restitution.”(SSAO) The people who are taking advantage of the welfare system are those who decide to lie or cheat to not receive an honest income and take funds from law-abiding citizens who are hard workings and have families to support. This does not seem just especially when statistics from The Department of Health and Human Services show that there are nine U.S. states where welfare pays more than the average salary of a U.S. teacher. There are forty states where welfare pays more than $8 per hour which in some states is more than the minimum wage.