Comment l'évolution de la société influence les structures familiales? (Document en anglais)

I would like to point out the notion of the idea of progress. We can say that the idea of progress consists in believing that the world can become better in terms of science, technology, liberty and quality of life. They had shaped most of western civilisation’s vision of history. Progress implies changes, evolution from an old order with old traditions to a new and modern order.

I will tackle this notion throughout the evolution of family over the time. Thus we are going to explain how does the evolution of society influences family structures?

Therefore, I will illustrate my arguments with the following documents: two films poster. On the one hand, The Cosby Show which deals with an African-American family where they live in Brooklyn, in New York in 90’s. On the other hand, Bend it like Beckman released in 2002. The film talks about a girl who loves football. The problem is that her family is traditional Indian so they don’t want her daughter to play football because they think football it’s for a boy. The third document is an article called “the good wife’s guide” from Housekeeping Monthly published the may of the 13th in 1995.

First, in 50’s there is not equality between women and men, “a family is a social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the mother with closet space and the children with outer space” is Evan Esar’s definition of the word family. Indeed, the family’s structure was composed of parents and children. The couples married earlier and divorce didn’t exist. The women didn’t work and she making all over house work. As for the men, he has to work to bring money for his family. Furthermore, the advertisement and poster show the important women’s role within the family. An article called “the good wife’s guide” from Housekeeping Monthly published the 13th of May in 1955. This article gives several advices to be a good wife; “Have dinner ready”, “don’t greet him with complaints and problems”, “a good wife always knows her place.” We can notice that wife was selflessly devoted to her children and submissive to her husband. Her only ambition is to satisfy her husband’s desires.

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