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Stephanie garcia

Susie Huerta

English 1S

7 November 2017

The Myth of the Model Family

The “model family” is a picture of how a family should look like a heterosexual

marriage, with two children and a dog. In the 1950’s this concept was adopted in order to help

families recover from the high domestic violence during the late 30’s and 40’s. Problems

skyrocketed between marriages, although it was hidden to the public, divisions between men and

women grew as did the idolization of the 1950’s creating an idea of nostalgia to most of america

who were mislead of what truly happened in that decade. Although at the time the idea of the

model family was put in place to help rather than harm, the effects are still seen in today’s

society. American families are built on that belief, it creates a false goal for anyone who doesn’t

fall into the perfect picture of what is the model family. It was a way to distract families in

conflicts going such as; race,class,and political issues. This idea slowly became a way to

exclude and make an unreachable goal for colored families. These chains of events continued to

increase when Trump’s candidacy was introduced. Families of color or low economically

stabilized families were most affected by the policies threaten to be made once he became

president. Terms such as “family values”, and “good old day” are a negative cognition put in

place of the the model family and to dismiss any modern day families we see in today’s society.

The 1950’s portrayed etiquette and organized marriages making it the easiest decade to

raise children and families. This meant that the men, women, and children played different roles
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in the family. With gender roles being portrayed in this, women homemakers and men

breadwinners, it made it easier to raise children. . This meant that society was easily influenced

by tv sitcoms, advertisements, etiquette manuals, and how-to-lessons. Since men were ranked to

be superior in their role as the head of the house, they were expected to take all the responsibility

to finance the family and it’s needs. A major factor in this is that the 1950’s was the highest paid

rate in america. What we really miss about the 1950s, by Stephanie Coontz states,“Men could

buy a house on 15-18 percent of their salary”(25). With economic stability it was easier for men

to provide for their families, but of course this salary was only known for white American men.

With only the economic stability available to one specific group of individuals, the roles

supposed to be played given by the model family was not so much of help for men of color to

provide for their families.

When World War II occurred, while the men were forced to go to war, women stayed

back which meant taking over the economic stability of the family. Although they were not

single mothers, they were physical caring for the family on their own. With women in the

workforce, they became aware of a sense of freedom it is being able to provide for themselves

and their children. That is why when men came back from war they found themselves

dumbfounded on the independence of the women and the dramatic switch of gender roles. This

made it hard for the men to grapple with.“Veterans often found came home to find that they had

to elbow their way back into their families, wives, and children resisting their attempts to reassert

domestic authority”(Coontz,27). This shows that even with a family that fit the picture With

tension between gender roles in families, the rate of unhappiness in marriage went down.

The effects of the switch of gender roles created a greater problems within families. Although

divorce in the 1950s was almost unheard of, didn’t mean that marriages were unhappy. “Women
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were unable to take out loans or even credit cards in their own names… A lack of options outside

marriage led some women to remain in desperately unhappy unions that were often not in the

best interests of their children or themselves”(Coontz p38). Most families feared to be rejected

by society, so they stayed together in order to look appealing to society. Women on the other

hand stayed married due to the lack of independence the government allowed them to have.

Without being able to provide a living for themselves women found themselves seeking help

from extended family.

A study of the interactions between extended families by Naomi Gerstel and Natalia

Sarkisian, showed that colored families specifically black and Latino men are more likely to

have stronger ties with other family members that were immediate. “ 54 percent of Blacks and 51

percent of Latino/as, but only 37 percent of Whites, live within two miles of kin…. 76 percent of

of Blacks, 71 percent of Latino/as, but only just 63 percent of Whites see their relatives once a

week or more”(Gerstel, Sarkisian,p45). This brings to light the one of the effects that the model

family has one the stereotypes assigned to a specific group of people. While the model family

portrays that it is strongly tied within the immediate family it overlooks the importance of help

between families.

Stereotyped and perceived as lazy made it hard for colored men to fulfill in their roles as

breadwinners assigned by the family model. Similar to today’s society, we see colored men

struggling to make ends meet, and still wanting to fill in that role that society say they need to fill

in. “Black and Latino/a relatives are more likely than whites to be supportive they are more

likely to give each other help...hold, work,child care,providing rides, and running

errands”(Gerstel, Sarkisian,p47). All of these misunderstands is what has trickled down to

today's society. Colored men are wanted to be viewed as lazy uncaring,and without “family
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values” that america takes from the nuclear family model, as a systematic way to cover up the

underside of the model family and their roles assigned.

The difference in class and race either increases or decreases the way and how often you

interact with extended family. Families of color help each other out by using each other

physically. But White families are more likely to give support economically. “Whites are more

likely than ethnic minorities to give and receive large sums of money”(Gerstel, Sarkisian,p47).

This shows that class and race plays a major role in how much you cooperate in your family.

Although whites get financial help they lack extended family ties, because they do not know how

to both receive and give help physically and emotionally this creates deficit on how family

communicates.

Mass deportation created by politicians increase disconnection between ethnic and class,

without keeping in mind the importance of extended family ties among them. This in today’s

world most effects people color and the families members forced to follow, or stay behind.

Politicians such as President Trump claim that family values are going down and that we need to

refocus our attention to that problem. The problem with this claim that policymakers don’t

recognize that family support cannot be compensated for the lack of economic instability. A

recent study on Mass Deportation,by Robert Warren, and Donald kerwin states, “Removing

undocumented residents from mixed-status household would reduce medians drops of 19,300 or

47%, which of plunge millions of U.S families into poverty”(Warren,Kerwin,p2). Almost half of

mixed-status household will be affected by the this policy. 5.7 million children that have

undocumented parents will have to make a heartbreaking decision of following their parents, or

stay here and be exposed to the possibility of being but in foster care. Both parents and children

suffer from these policies if made. This all connects back to the inadequate decisions that
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policymakers do that affects the way family works for colored families. It both affects extended

family ties, and strengthens the idea of the model family.

The myth of the model family has been benchmark for all families in america. If you get

there you are set. America was built on that belfie but what makes this a is that it didn’t and still

doesn’t appeal to everyone. It only appeal to white family and excludes making it unreachable

for colored families. Gender norms set in the 1950s created a domino effect that implemented the

backlash seen today. It is important that set an inclusive policies that will be help and poor

families and all types of families to practice extended families support.