The Nuclear Family
- The appeal of the nuclear family was forged by the economic and political conditions of the 1950s, undermined by social revolution in the 60s, then revived as an ideal for the conservative movement in the 1970s.
The nuclear family became synonymous with the promise of the ‘American dream.’
- In 1900 a majority of women worked, and the US had the highest divorce rate in the world. Around 1 in 10 children grew up in a single-parent household.
Only after the Second World War in the 1950s, did life begin to stabilise and become sweeter for the average American.
The 50s was characterised by a rising birth rate, a stable divorce rate and a declining age of marriage.
- In 1950 most women married at the age of 20. Only 16% of married women got a job outside of the home.
- From 1940 to 1960 the number of families with 3 children, doubled and the number of families with 4 children, quadrupled.
- Advertising was also becoming increasingly popular. ‘Christmas Morning, She’ll Be Happier With A Hoover!’ claimed one ad. Spending
- on advertising rose from $6 billion in 1950 to over $13 billion in 1963.
The economy was booming. And in the 1950s grew by c. 37%. By 1960 the average family had 30% more purchasing power than it had in 1950.
- The name nuclear family, stems from a family unit built around the father and mother. The name also resonated with the politics of the
- Cold War.
The prosperity in the 50s, unparalleled in US history made this family archetype popular.
The idea that America didn’t need to make their women work, was also a way in challenging the USSR and communism.
Betty Friedan
- The Feminine Mystique that dropped in 1963 aimed to expose the oppression and misery that lay behind the glittering veneer of the
- 1950s.
- Betty Friedan described herself as a housewife and mother from the New York Suburbs.
- In 1957 she conducted a survey among her college alumni at Smith College.
- The results were telling, ‘girls that had excelled at arts and sciences were expected to surrender their minds and personalities to their
- roles of wives’:
- 89% of the Smith alumni who answered the survey were now homemakers.
- Friedan argued that the housewife of the 1960s was suffocated by the feminine mystique, the idea that women were scared to ask
- themselves ‘Is this all?’ after becoming housewives.
Friedan wanted women to take control of their lives, through contraception and employment.
By channelling women’s energies into voluntary work and political activism, Friedan believed that woman could overcome the mystique.
In 1960 the contraceptive, the ‘Pill’ was officially licensed for sale.
By 1962 approximately 1.187 million women were using it.
Policy makers thought the Pill would strengthen the nuclear family, increasing disposable income by reduced pregnancies.
Instead, it weakened the links between sexual pleasure, childbirth and marriage. Sex before and outside of marriage became more common.
- Between 1960 and 1980 the divorce rate almost doubled.
- In the early 60s, around half of women told pollsters they engaged in premarital sex, in the late 1980s this was 5 in 6.
- In the early 60s, ¾ of America said that premarital sex was wrong. By the 1980s only 1/3 held this view.
In 1960 only 5% of births were attributed to single mothers. By 1980 this was 18% and by 1990, 28%.