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Файл:Focus on topics. Family & work. A Guide for students and teachers. Учебное пособие
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Women working
As recently as 1960, only 33.3 percent of the American work force
was female. By 1985, the percentage had risen to 54.7. More and more
women, both single and married, are working outside their homes.
Women’s liberation no doubt has something to do with this new situation,
difficult economic times have also contributed to the increase in female
participation in the labour force.
Women are working not just in menial or clerical positions, as they
once did, but in the professions and trades as well. It is more and more
common to find female engineers, lawyers, doctors, dentists, and other
professionals. Female house painters, plumbers, and construction workers
are not common, but they do exist. Fifteen years ago they did not.
The fact that more women are working has implications for malefemale relationships. More women are earning money and are therefore in a
position to assert their independence. Traditional female responsibilities in
the areas of childcare and household maintenance are being reallocated.
More and more men doing things that only women, or mainly women, used
to do. Visitors from male-dominated countries (and most other countries are
more male-dominated than America is) may be shocked at first to see men
shopping for groceries, washing clothes in Laundromats (even folding
women’s underwear!), cooking in the kitchen, cleaning house, and taking
care of children.
Single-parent families
As was mentioned above, the number of single-parent families in
the United States is increasing markedly. According to U.S. census
information based on families with children under 18 years of age, the
number of families headed by a single parent has more than doubled in the
past 20 years, from 10.1 per cent in 1965 to 22.2 per cent in 1985. A large
portion of single-parent households are officially classified as “poor”. Most
single-parent households are headed by women. Most of these women were
once married, although an increasing number of American women are
deliberately having children with no intention of marrying child’s father or
anyone else.
Foreign visitors often take pity upon these single parents, viewing
their situations as tragic. They assume that all these women – and any
unmarried women above the age of 25 or so – want to have a husband. The
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situations are probably “tragic” in some cases, but from the viewpoint of
most Americans they are inevitable – indeed, in some ways preferable to
the alternative of maintaining unhappy marriages – and quite acceptable.
Househusbands
Some couples have decided, for whatever reason, that the woman
should be the one whose work supports the family financially, and the man
should mind the house and the children. Men in that position are popularly
called “househusbands”. There are more and more of them in America.
Commuter couples
A contemporary American phenomenon foreign visitors have
particular difficulty understanding and accepting is that of the commuter
couple. In these couples, both work, one in one location and the other in a
different, distant location. They maintain two households and they
“commute” to see each other on weekends (if they live close enough
together) or less often (if the distance between them is too great to make
weekend travel feasible).
The commuter couple phenomenon seems to be an inevitable
outcome of accepting the idea that a woman’s career aspirations are no less
important than a man’s. If that idea is accepted, and at least some
Americans accept it, then it will naturally happen that the marriage
partners’ careers will sometimes take them to separate places.
Unmarried couple households
As recently as 10 to 15 years ago, it was regarded as somewhat
scandalous for an unmarried man and woman to “cohabit” or live together.
Now, in many communities, such situations are accepted as a matter of
course, by parents as well as others.
Blended families
Along with the growing divorce rate goes a growing number of
remarriages and “blended” families – families composed of previouslymarried adults and the children of those previous marriages.
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Sexual revolution
Academics and others argue about what a “sexual revolution” is
and whether there has in fact been such a thing in the United States in the
past 15 years or so. Those who believe there has been a sexual revolution
point to a number of changes they think have taken place:
People, particularly younger ones, feel freer than they once did to
talk about sex-related subjects. They are more likely to be talked or written
about than they were 15 or 20 years ago.
The idea that women should be virgins at the time they marry
apparently prevails among a diminishing portion of the population.
More young people are engaging in sexual intercourse before
marriage.
Homosexuals (usually referred to as “gay” if they are male and
“lesbian” if female) have become much less reluctant than they used to be
openly acknowledge their “sexual preferences”. In some communities there
has been legislation to protect gay people from discrimination in housing
and jobs. Once again the American belief in individualism is reflected in
legal efforts to protect a group of people whose behavior may not be
approved of, but who are considered to have a right to behave as they wish.
On the other hand, concern that arose in the mid-1980s about the
disease AIDS has lead at least some Americans to believe that promiscuous
sexual behaviour, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is potentially
dangerous to participants and ought to be avoided.
Despite all the changes mentioned above, not everything has
changed. Foreign visitors will still find individuals and communities where
traditional ideas about male-female relationships hold sway. There are still
many men and women who believe in premarital chastity (especially for
women), marital fidelity, modesty about sexual functions, non-working
wives, and male domination in families.
So, foreign visitors cannot safely make any assumptions about
male-female relationships they may encounter or become involved in. They
must observe carefully, ask questions, and take care not to let their own
strongly-held ideas about male and female roles interfere with their
understanding of what they see.
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●PATTERNS OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY
Diversity of Patterns
The diversity of patterns of American family life is really
remarkable. Various things account for this: ethnic background,
immigration date of their forebears, social background, religion, and other
factors. The ancestors of present-day Americans came from more than 17
different European countries, Canada, Mexico, from other Latin American
nations, as well as from Africa, China, Japan, the Philippines and many
other eastern countries. There are over 22 million blacks (Afro-Americans)
living in the US. In addition there are more than 700,000 Native Americans
(American Indians). It is now estimated that by the year 2050 half of
Americans will be Hispanic, Black or Asian by ethnic background. This
great diversity makes family customs so varied.
Social Problems
People's living standards vary greatly — from the affluence of the
rich in the upper income bracket and the moderate but satisfying living
standards of the so-called "middle class" to the very low incomes of those
who are on official subsistence using welfare because they are either
unemployed or lack the necessary means for day-to-day living.
Welfare and poverty problems have been a central issue for many
years. Many are inclined to treat welfare recipients as "undeserving poor"
who are alleged to have low intelligence or low ambition. President John F.
Kennedy was the first to generate programs directed toward services and
work-oriented counseling for the welfare poor. The subculture of poverty is
sometimes seen as pathological and contradictory to the values cherished
by the middle class which emphasize hard work, motivation to succeed,
thrift and stable family life. Some play up the image of "undeserving"
masses of welfare recipients. But in fact, their economic plight can be
combated only through dealing with flaws in the surrounding social and
economic system, such as racial discrimination or high rates of
unemployment. As a matter of fact, the poor, both blacks and whites, never
have had freedom of choice. Their education for the most part has been
inadequate and the market has been unable to absorb all the working
hands. The solution to the problem of poverty lies in the change of the
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culture and values of the poor by means of expanding social work,
education, and training programs.
Marriage
Marriage in the United States is considered a matter of individual
responsibility and decision. American marriages are usually based on
romantic love, rather than on social class, education, money, or religion. On
the other hand, marriages between blacks and whites are rare. They probably
account for fewer than 1 per cent of all marriages each year. Marriage is
preceded by dating. Casual dating usually begins in the early teens, and by
the late teens a pattern of steady dating develops. Steady dating is often
followed by marriage.
What has been called the "new morality" among young people was a
controversial development which started in the 1960s. Practiced largely by
the young, this pattern accepts close relationships and even living together
before marriage. However, many Americans do not approve of this
behaviour pattern and uphold a double standard in sexual behaviour, which
means that what is acceptable for young men is not for young women. On
the other hand, some young people — both men and women — accept a
single standard for both sexes before marriage.
Dating in America looks generally very casual to outsiders. For
example, it is perfectly respectable for a young man to call up a young
woman, introduce himself by telephone, and arrange a date. Usually they
have a friend in common. It is equally acceptable for a friend to arrange a
"blind date" that is a date between two young people who have not met
before.
After their marriage the young couple is free to decide where to live.
Most newlyweds set up their own household immediately. Most married
people practice some kind of birth-control. They plan the number of children
they are going to have and when their children will be born. Birth-control
information and family planning are easily available.
Today, according to the US Census Bureau, 59 percent of men and
47 percent of women between 18 and 24 depend on their parents despite all
traditional patterns of behaviour, at least for housing. This is part of a major
shift in the middle class. Analysts cite a variety of reasons for this return to
the nest. The marriage age is rising. A high divorce rate and a declining
remarriage rate are sending economically pressured and emotionally
battered young people to parental shelters. For some, the expense of an
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away-from-home college education has become so exorbitant that many
students now attend local schools. Even after graduation young people find
their wings clipped by skyrocketing housing costs.
Sharing the family home requires adjustment for all. There may be
the hassles over bathrooms, telephones and privacy. Some families,
however, manage the delicate balancing act.
The familiar structure in present-day America is the so-called
"nuclear family". It is unusual for members of the family other than the
husband, wife, and children to live together. But the forgotten term
"extended family" is coming back again with a different meaning. Now it
means that there have appeared an increasing numbers of families that
include half-brothers and sisters, and stepmothers and stepfathers. There is a
growing number of people who have been married three or even four times.
The reasons for remarriage are: a romanticization of marriage that
cannot live up to the long-term reality; the economic independence of
women; a level of affluence that makes multiple families possible for some;
an attitude among the so-called "me" generation that places fulfillment of
personal needs ahead of compromise or sharing.
Census figures show that 50 percent of American families now end
in divorce. 85 percent of these divorced people remarry, usually within 5
years, with 60 percent of those marriages ending in divorce.
"I've changed my name so many times I don't know who I am any
more," said Barbara Freedman, a Manhattan social worker, who has been
married three times, having been widowed as well as divorced.
She went on: "It's disruptive. It's hard to maintain a stable core of friends
or pattern of life. So much ofyour structure is built around your marriage."
Children of parents who marry several times are another concern.
They stiffer a loss of faith in relationships. Multiple marriages also
aggravate sibling conflicts. Who is entitled to get college money if there isn't
enough to go around? How do you equitably settle the claims of children
from the different marriages when the parent dies? What if the children
from a marriage are left but of the will? So, remarriage may create
unforeseen difficulties for both parents' and children's lives.
Family Rituals
Many American families can boast of certain rituals crystallized
around traditional occasions, usually holidays. Such repeated ceremonies
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play a significant role in creating and reinforcing our sense of emotional
security.
Families with the strongest ties have the most rituals. They are
important not so much for whatever there is actually said or done, but for
the results they yield, — the sense of "we-nests" that grows out of shared
experience. More than anything, the ritual is a symbol of how family
members feel about one another.
There are numerous manifestations of this custom. At Christmas,
for example, many families have special ways of exchanging gifts: "We sit
in a circle and take turns opening one present at a time..." Thanksgiving and
birthday rituals usually center around food: "It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if
Aunt Grace didn't bring her blueberry pie." Or, "Whoever's birthday it is
has the privilege of choosing the menu for the entire dinner." Other
ritualized occasions include family reunions, Sunday prayers, and July
Fourth picnics.
Family rituals serve several basic purposes:
1. They reinforce family closeness. A friend of mine prizes the
memory of a childhood event that took place each year on the first warm
April Sunday: "My dad would go out in the yard, breathe in deeply, and say,
“It looks like spring is here at last.” Then I knew that it was the day for our
spring hike. We'd pack a lunch and head out into the countryside. We
didn’t do anything different on that hike than on others we took during the
year, but it was the idea — the first hike of the season, just Dad and me —
that made it special."
Rituals also help newcomers feel part of the family group. There
was a couple who began the custom of reading "The Night before
Christmas Eve" by Gogol when their first child was three years old. The
custom continued with a second daughter and became an integral part of
the holiday. Later, the girls' fiancés and husbands were included in the
ceremony. Eventually, the couple's close friends and three grandchildren
also gathered each year for the reading.
For young children, bedtime rituals are a source of comfort and
reassurance. The stuffed animal nearby, the bedtime story, the last drink of
water are all part of this.
2. Rituals forge a link between generations.
3. Rituals are a way of maintaining family values.
4. Rituals set forth appropriate behavior for special occasions.
They can be as simple as eating certain dishes on certain day —"It wouldn't
be Sunday supper if we didn't have Dad's chili," one may say — or as
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formalized as one family's custom of beginning a Thanksgiving dinner
with three kernels of corn on an empty plate to symbolize three things for
which they are thankful.
Family Traditions: Television
As in other countries, television has become a very big part of
American life. With the advent of cable television, there are now not only
programs but whole stations that specialize in certain kinds of
programming. There are channels devoted exclusively to news (CNN),
sport (ESPN 1 and 2), weather, and popular music (MTV). And, it is of
course possible to watch television twenty-four hours a day. You can start
the day with shows that broadcast news and interviews with various
celebrities. In the afternoon the soap operas, so-called because their
sponsors are often soap and detergent companies, take over. The "soaps", as
they are called for short, are usually about romantic intrigues that involve
several sets of interacting characters and lots of stock situations. Some of
these soap operas have been running for decades, and there are people who
can probably tell you the histories of the characters from day one to the
present. In the evening, situation comedies called "sitcoms" are the main
fare. These too may run for years and years. Some of the most famous of
these have been "M.A.S.H.", about American doctors in Korea during the
Korean war, "Cheers", set in a Boston bar, and "The Cosby Show", a family
comedy. There are other serialized dramas, like "Dallas" and "Dynasty" (no
longer running) that are really nothing more than fancy versions of the
afternoon soaps.
Except for public television, which runs on a combination of public
donations, governmental subsidy, and corporate support, American
television newscasts tend to be superficial and provincial. The lack of
comprehensive international news is especially noticeable to those who want
to know what is going on in the rest of the world. Even nowadays,
American television is remarkably dependent on foreign news services and
reporters for much of its coverage of international news. Through cable
television it is now possible to get news programs from Europe and Russia.
Local news programs consist mostly of reports of sensational events such as
fires, rapes, robberies, and murders, with some local politics thrown in for
good measure. Sports news and weather are also part of late evening news
programs.
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Television has been called "the great wasteland". This is because
so much of the programming is mindless, tasteless, and uninformative. Now
whole generations of children have been brought up on what is called
derisively the "boob tube" or the "idiot box." For many people television has
taken the place that literature might have occupied in the past, so that people
are generally less well informed than they ought to be or think they are.
Despite the presence of high-quality programs for children such as
"Sesame Street", endless watching of television is thought to bring
about a kind of passivity and lack of imagination in its viewers. School
children and college students have been conditioned by the television to a
remarkable and unfortunate degree. Consequently, their attention spans are
short and they expect to be entertained all of the time.
The question of whether televised violence leads to a real life
violence is not settled, although many prominent people have expressed
opinions on the subject. Walter Lippmann has said that though he believes
in freedom of speech and though he has no objection to the censorship of
mass entertainment of the young, he thinks the risks to our liberties are
less in doing that than in taking a chance on violence becoming
unmanageable.
When they grow up, adult watchers of television graduate to the
evening programming we have been discussing here. It is not uncommon for
families to arrange their whole evening around the television. In addition,
American men are often addicted to watching sports, including especially
baseball, American football, basketball, and hockey in the evenings and
during Saturday and Sunday afternoons. A whole genre of jokes has
sprung up about women who try in vain to get their husbands to do
something else besides watch the TV.
* * *
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W O R K
Unit 2
S t a r t e r A c t i v i t i e s
1. Think about the job you would most like, and complete the questionnaire
below.
CAREES GUIDANCE QUESTIONNAIRE
1.Practical requirements
Would you rather Would you mind
work in an office? working long hours?
work outdoors? working in the evenings?
work with other people? working at weekends?
work on your own? doing shift work?
do paperwork? getting up early?
do practical work? travelling a lot?
2. What are your skills/abilities?
Are you good at Can you
using tools? think clearly?
designing things? work in a team?
looking after others? express yourself well
adding up figures? in writing?
talking to people? when speaking?
3. How do you see yourself ?
Are you Do you have
practical? friendly? good eyesight?
efficient? charming? a good memory?
strong? independent? a sense of humour?
punctual? capable? (a lot of) imagination?
accurate? tough? determination?
fair? responsible? patience?
gentle? disciplined? skill?
organized? reliable? talent?
cheerful? willing to learn? energy?
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