Parents and Children
The Social Construction of Parenting
• Society’s expectations for parents vary depending on time, place, and social location.
• Social constructions based on historical, economic, social forces
• Only 7% of current U.S. households fit “traditional nuclear family pattern”, dual income
families with no children outnumber traditional families by almost 2 to 1
• Presumed “universals” of motherhood are false
• Most important source of fulfillment, maternal instinct
• Expectations for fatherhood have changed from colonial times through industrial revolution to
contemporary dual income families
• Consequences of high number of women in paid labor force
• The isolated homemaker is no longer dominant.
• Compulsory motherhood is weakening as more women choose not to marry.
• The relationship between marriage and childbearing is weakening as more women are
becoming parents without husbands.
The Social Construction of Childhood
• The experience of childhood also varies by time, place, and social location.
• Social forces change the way (middle class) children are raised now
• Separated from work roles: more leisure time, more time away from parents
• Most raised in large cities and suburbs
• More involved in adult (nonparent) organized activities: segregated from parents,
overscheduled, increased outside influences, loss of spontaneity & creativity
• Technological innovations: computer, television, video games
• Smaller family size: more individual attention, resources per child
• Consumerism: confluence of corporate marketing, peer pressure, parental & other adult
behavior conveys cultural message that self-worth is measured in what we possess
• Parenting style has become more flexible, less authoritarian: children less inhibited, greater sense
of entitlement, fewer parental controls
• Parenting styles vary by social class, contribute to reproduction of class inequality
• “New” stage in the life course between adolescence and adulthood termed “emerging adulthood”
• Response of young people to structural changes in labor market, demand for more
education, high cost of education & housing
Demographic Patterns
Fertility – The fertility rate has been declining since 1800.
• Four important swings in birth rate over last century
– Sharp drop during Great Depression (1930-1939), sharp increase during Baby Boom (1947-
1964), drop to all-time low (below replacement level) in 1975, gradual increase over last 30
years to replacement level
• Reasons for relatively low fertility rate today
– Later marriage, high divorce rate, majority of women in labor force, current economic
circumstances require 2 incomes, legal abortion (1/4 of pregnancies not ending in
miscarriages or stillbirths are aborted)
Consequences of Low Fertility
• More economic resources for each child
• Small family size is related to positive physical and intellectual outcomes for children and
increased marital satisfaction.
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