British and American family matters

A There are many different views on family life. Some people could not do without the support and love of their families. Others say it is the source of most of our problems and anxieties. Whatever the truth is, the family is definitely a powerful symbol.

The family is the most basic and ancient of all institutions, and it remains the fundamental social unit in every society. Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended family, which may include three or more generations living together.

B A “typical” British family used to consist of a mother, a father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. These changes are the result of new laws and changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact, one marriage in three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families.

Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so their family becomes scattered.

In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social and geographical differences within the larger family group.

C Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents.

D And what is the American family like? Most American families consist of a mother, a father and three or four children living at home. There may be relatives – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws in the same community, but American families usually maintain separate households. This familial structure is known as the “nuclear family”. It is unusual for members of the family other than the husband, wife and children to live together. Occasionally an aging grandparent may live with the family, but this arrangement is usually not considered desirable. Although the nuclear family unit is economically independent on the rest of the family, members of the whole family maintain close kinship ties.

E In the American family the husband and wife usually share important decision making. When the children are old enough, they participate as well. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question, and children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parental control. Americans believe that the individual person should have the freedom to decide the course of his or her life. Independence is highly valued in the United States. Children are expected to make choices – appropriate to their age and maturity level – in many areas of their lives. Parents encourage their children to make choices from an early age: how to decorate their bedroom, what camp they would like to attend etc. Young people are expected to break from their families by the time they have reached their late teens or early twenties.

F So, what exactly is a family? Our ideas are often based on the middle-class “ideal” family, that consists of a husband, a wife, and their dependent children. This particular family pattern, however, is far from typical. There are many different family forms that have existed or still exist both in America and in other countries.

We may say, then, that the family is a relatively permanent group of people related by ancestry, marriage, or adoption.

2. Определите, являются ли утверждения ниже истинными (True) или ложными (False) согласно содержанию текста. Исправьте ложные утверждения. Запишите предложения и переведите их.

1. There are many different views on family life.

2. A “typical” British family used to consist of a mother, a father and three children.

3. There have been no changes in British family life recently.

4. Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – don’t keep in touch with each other.

5. Marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were in Britain.

6. The nuclear family is economically dependent on the rest of the family.

7. In the American family the husband and wife usually share important decision making, the children do not participate in it.