Difference between revisions of "426--Week 3 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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Commenting on Cash and adding to what I just said; I wonder how many divorces can be attributed to the media. I assume increased divorce rates have something to do with failed expectations. But when did these expectations begin to play a role in relationships? --Andrew B. | Commenting on Cash and adding to what I just said; I wonder how many divorces can be attributed to the media. I assume increased divorce rates have something to do with failed expectations. But when did these expectations begin to play a role in relationships? --Andrew B. | ||
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| + | Throughout Tuesday’s readings we see the American family struggle with the paradox between individualism and intimacy that relied on others. The emergence of marriages based on love bred intimacy yet as outlined in American Manhood, marriage was a union of two individuals who struggled to live as two and not as one. With the introduction of expectations of intimacy and changing roles in marriages men found refuge outside the home in men’s clubs and women struggled to become comfortable in their assigned roles of domesticity as a married woman. The family was not exempt from this struggle. Mintz and Kellogg came to define the family of the 1830s as “a private place, distinct from the public sphere of life. It was a shelter and a refuge, a contrast to the outside world, (p. 44).” And while job specialization, industrialization, and changes in child rearing shifted the focus on the individual, a focus on intimate, personal relationships between husband and wife and parent and child emerged to create a focus on intimacy within the family. The emotional and psychological emphasis on relationships and child development, while yes focusing on the needs of the individual, could not ignore the fact that the family still heavily depended upon intimacy and ultimately others to function. – Mary Beth | ||
