How the US Government Has Influenced Marriage and Family with Time

Assignment Instructions – Worldview Analysis Essay

Write an essay  providing examples of how some facet of “process philosophy” has impacted American government and/or society. You may focus on just 1 example, or you may discuss 2–3 examples. Options include the following topics:

  • A specific piece of legislation.
  • The “party platform” of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party (or both).
  • Family and marriage.
  • Economics.
  • Civil rights.
  • Education.

Sample Answer – How the US Government Has Influenced Marriage and Family with Time

Introduction

Process philosophy refers to a prevailing ideology and perception which is presented by scholar of philosophy explaining a particular event in the society. Process philosophy is essential in all facades of life in elucidating issues behind incidences in the society. There are a number of process philosophy facades which have generated a great effect in the government of the United States and its society in general. Part of these process philosophy facades includes economics, education, civil rights, as well as family and marriage among others.

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This paper will be based on family and marriage. The paper will critically analyze how the US government has influenced marriage and family with time. The paper will also reflect on biblical view of marriage and the government contribution in its destruction or reinforcement. The paper will analyze family and marriage topic from the traditional perspective of family and marriage and how continuous changes in this institution has been influenced by the government and Christianity or religion at large.

Family and Marriage

The American mainstream culture is constantly changing to reflect the current chief values and belief systems, including what are frequently regarded unchallengeable social systems that include the family. Families are basically care institutions which change over time and differ across cultures. Their important historical function has been contributing to the basic family members’ economic survival. Therefore the families structure frequently adapts to the culture ideologies, economy and laws developed to strengthen that adaptation. According to (), societies grow overtime to become extra stratifies and complex, and the quality and nature of family life turns to be more differentiated based on changing economies and the specific family position in the economic system (Sagepub, n.d.).

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These changes can explain why the size of the American families has been reducing over time to an average of 3-4 persons in a house. The concern about extended family has also declined with more people paying more attention to their nuclear family, with less regard to the extended family. The marriage and family process has changed in history on aspects concerning how it has influenced the American government. Initially, American population embraced cultural marriages which could vary from one sub-tribe to another. These marriages could include polygamy and polyandry among others. This was changed by the institution of Christianity Monogamy. Christian monogamy did not authorize divorce (Bergstrand& Sinski, 2010). Marriages were considered sanctified from heaven and only death could free a partner from the bondage. The situation of marriage and family was changed with 19th century enactment of Married women’s Property Acts that permitted married women to own their own properties.

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The Post war period also resulted to institution of more women into the professional world, making them contributors to the family economy. This has with time resulted to the formation of single-parent families. The ideology of marriage sanity has been neutralized by permission of divorce by the government even for the partners in Christian marriages, even due to irreconcilable differences. These partners can currently part through legal processed divorce and remarry to create blended families. One can also consider remaining single and raise the children (Bergstrand& Sinski, 2010).

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The society has also experienced the growth of single by choice families where people who have never married get and raise children single handily. More changes in the institution of marriage and families have been seen with the enactment of same marriage Act or gay marriage that took place recently. This legal change permitted new families where same sex couples can adopt and raise a child. Family and marriage has been changing from time to time both from the social perspective and economic perspective. Today, most families comprised of two working parents and a nanny to take care of the children. Economic demands has pushed the changes in the role of a woman and a mother in the family to be more financial oriented than care oriented, though they still offer more care to the children compared to men (Thornton& Philipov, 2009). The change of women’s position in the society affected women’s marriage perception from submissive wives to feminists. These changes made women to focus more on their economic achievement creating need for family planning and abortion of unplanned pregnancy. This has advanced to development of mass of single parent families among other changes in the families and marriages in the US.

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