Post_Mod

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:

It is embedded in our Constitution and in the various amendments to it starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1865 and subsequently in the acts of 1871, 1964 and again in 1991. Egalitarianism is at the heart of democratic beliefs and ideals and has come to be defined as equal opportunity.

So, why has the constitution been amended so many times? Apparently, egalitarianism as an ideal is most difficult to translate into equality in reality. The answer to this question is found in our historical roots, our economic and political institutions, and in the nature of social life itself- in the division of labor, social stratification and the distribution of power.

It is impossible to do justice to this most complex and difficult of topics here; but, the topic of equality/inequality cannot be ignored either in any discussion of the family and it’s transition from the modern to the postmodern era. Racial and gender discrimination and the reaction to it plays an important role in this transition.

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based solely on voluntary or involuntary membership in a specific group or category. It is the actual behavior which constitutes discrimination and always involves exclusion or restriction of members of that group or category from opportunities available to those individuals in a privileged position of power and authority. So, discriminatory behavior undermines egalitarianism by depriving members of a society of opportunities in the social, political and economic aspects of life.

Generally, parents in the United States hold the value that they should do everything in their power to do the best for their children and expect/hope that their children will do better than them both socially and economically. This value and belief was whole heartedly adopted by the modern family and is prevalent in the postmodern family today although uncertainty has modified it‘s strength.

Resources, however, are not equally distributed to assist parents in fulfilling these goals as predicated by economic, cultural, informational factors and so on across class lines. Given that parents have unequal resources, huge inequalities of opportunity exist between children born to parents of different classes. Upper class children experience more opportunity than lower class children. Add racial and gender discrimination to the equation and the disparity becomes even greater.

During the later part of the Modern era, working and middle class parents found avenues of upward mobility for their children through increased educational and, as a result, economic opportunities. Industrialization provided opportunities for the substantial growth of the middle class during this period as well as a working class which flourished as the United States took on a dominant role as the wealthiest country in the world. After WWII expectations rose and the American Dream seemed attainable by the majority of Americans. Parents in most sectors of the United States during the late Modern era witnessed varying degrees of upward mobility by their children. The economic environment was ripe for it.

This was primarily true of the white working and middle classes and, to a much lesser extent, for African Americans and other minority groups as racial discrimination set obstacles very difficult to overcome. In spite of these obstacles, minorities and women experienced increased opportunities as industries grew and employment needs increased. Women benefited by the home front effort during WWII to an extent that their abilities and skills were showcased and blacks migrated North to fill vacant factory positions after the war ended.

However, opportunities for single parent women remained limited because of economic and social restraints. The American Dream was much more difficult to attain for children not brought up in the traditional modern family. Single women with children were seen as abnormal if not deviant and were discriminated against socially. As a woman, employment opportunities were limited; so, these children did not receive the benefit of resources provided by the two parent family. Poverty, social isolation and discrimination further limited opportunity for these children and made the equality gap as wide as the Grand Canyon. For a Black female single parent, the gap was insurmountable and led to a “culture of poverty” that was/is reproduced from one generation to another.

In general, expectations remained different for male verses female children within the Modern family. Male children were expected to have a better education (college degree), a higher status job (profession) and a more affluent life style than their father’s. The doors of corporate and industrial America were open to these upwardly mobile educated young men as they improved their status in society. Female children, on the other hand, were expected to be better educated but there was less pressure by parents for them to go to college. Women generally were expected to work in the more traditional jobs held by women usually clerical in nature until they got married and had children. They were not expected to pursue a career with the exception of positions, for example, in teaching or social work. At best, education was seen for girls as a vehicle for improving their status through marriage. Raising children and being a wife and homemaker during this period were seen as the most legitimate roles for women to play. Women were not suppose to compete with men in the workplace. Women who did found themselves at a significant disadvantage and subject to sexual discrimination and harassment as well as being unpromotable.

The Modern family in the United States was fraught with inequalities both within it and between families. Egalitarianism, while adopted in principle, was not discernible in fact. Gender and race discrimination maintained inequality between individuals; and, social class differences provided unequal access to opportunities for families in general. At the end of the era, women and minorities remained disenfranchised from social, economic and political resources. The narrowly defined definition of what constituted a family restricted equal access to opportunities for those individuals who adopted alternative mate selection and who chose to raise children outside of the model of a husband/wife marital group.