When we picture the nuclear family model, you’ll probably think of a stay-at-home mother, a breadwinner father, and obedient children. You’ll probably picture this family as a happy, stable one. The family has no financial woes; they can afford to have one working parent in the home. The children who love their parents, the mother/wife who loves to take care of her family, and the father who loves to provide for his family are all seen as being fulfilled by this family archetype. This idea has been ingrained in us since the beginning of the 20th century.
This idea was strongly influenced by 1950s tv shows. If you lived in these pretend families on pixelated screens, you were more than happy to play your part in the family and not stray. The issue with the nuclear family model is that it wasn’t a perfect reality for most. In the 50s, 25% of Americans were poor. Even sadder, 1 in 3 children lived in poverty. With statistics like these, it’s ludicrous to believe that the nuclear family model, with one source of income, made people happy. The truth is….it didn’t. People were more addicted to drugs in 1900 than any other year in our country. The majority of people who were addicted to these drugs were middle-aged white women. These women were meant to be the most stable in the family, but in reality, they dealt with challenges that only poor and ethnic people have been portrayed to have. In the 1950s, somewhere between 25%-33% of all marriages ended in divorce. There’s no truth to the claim of marital bliss in the 50s.
Why have we warped the reality of this trope so much? The problem with this trope is that, although it struggled to sustain itself in real life, it looked perfect on television. Men struggled to provide for their families in a time with many financial problems. Women were extremely unhappy, dealing with addiction and marital-unhappiness. Children were the product of these dysfunctional families. As a society, we’ve cast away these issues. We’ve portrayed only poor and ethnic families to have had these issues. We’ve claimed that there is an issue with the family if they can not sustain with one income, an extremely feminine mother, and happy, obedient children. Only the upper-middle class and the rich could actually provide for their family with one income, and even if they had no financial issues, they could still be dealing with addiction and depression. The 50s have been defined by nostalgia and the near-perfect image of domestic life. However, there is very little evidence from reality to support this nostalgia.
Would you like to emulate the nuclear family model in your own life?
Why do you think the nuclear family model has been so glamourized?
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Replies
Love the topic and very well done Vanessa!
I wouldn't be happy living that kind of life, I wouldn't want to be a housewife and I'm not sure I want to get married or have kids. I think that the problem with this is that since every person is different you cannot set a model and expect it to work for everyone, there are women who want to be stay-at-home mothers and there's obviously nothing wrong with that but society shouldn't try and dictate what you're supposed to want to do with your life.
Most people love the idea of everything being perfect so much that their family doesn’t act like a normal family. They don’t want to face the truth because children definitely suffered during these times. I couldn’t imagine my parents being divorce and I would definitely be sad about it. Divorce is still very common these days too. Most people have divorced parents these days.
This trope has been so glamourized because people dream of it becoming their reality, and this especially happened with the spark of television in the '50s. Also, the media prefers to shine a light on the upper-middle class, and this trope especially glamourizes that. The nuclear family model makes rich people feel good about themselves and poor people think that happiness can only be a dream to them.
I think it would definitely make someone who struggled with the nuclear family model feel bad about themselves. Families in TV shows weren't meant to be normal middle-class families; not rich but also not poor. When the idea of "normal" becomes warped into this unrealistic goal of perfection, it can have harmful consequences for people watching those shows.
I think this was a big stereotype in the 1950's, but it was still a goal for most people to achieve in this time. You wanted to have the perfect family and make it look like you didn't have any problems, which is very unlikely. Most TV shows showed nuclear families which cause other people wanting to live up to this as well. I would agree that it would be hard for a family to survive with only one person's income.
It's obvious that th nuclear family was the goal of the 1950's, meaning it was widely displayed by the media. A lot of what we use to remember and study the 50's is based on the media. We also had the baby boom in that era, so it makes sense that it was easily portrayed as the nuclear family if there were tons of babies being born because it implied you'd already gotten married and settled down.
I think that the nuclear family has been portrayed through the media as the "perfect family", so everyone automatically idolizes it and wants it in their own life. TV shows and movies in particular are the main reason this lifestyle is so coveted among so many people that when it doesn't work out, it doesn't end well. I remember when my parents divorced but all my friends' parents were still together and it didn't make me feel great as every TV show had the perfect, happy family and I felt like my family was broken and wrong. I no longer think that but the fact that I did is literal proof that the media portrays the nuclear family model as the most perfect family in the world. I don't think I would ever want to emulate the nuclear family model in my own life because I don't want to be a housewife or even get married to begin with. I just can't see myself devoting my entire life to having and raising children, it sounds horrible to me.
The way the nuclear family is portrayed is meant to make people who can't achieve that feel lesser than those who can. That's just not right. It purposefully puts people down and is a very superficial idea.
I think that the families that were on these television shows are unreal and in reality most families cannot and do not live like the nuclear family model. Even though some families are better off than others, every family faces their own challenges that most people know nothing about. In the T.V. shows, everything seemed perfect and no one seemed to have a worry in the world but that is not reality. I would not want to live like the nuclear family model, because I do not think it is realistic to think that exists. In most families, both the dad and mom have to work while juggling home and family responsibilities. I know that is what I will expect my life to be like.
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