Sumblog 9

Talcott Parsons did much of his work on the structure of kinship in different relationship actions at the turn of the feminist movement. He had an emphasis on the upbringing of children and the formation of the family unit as a whole. At this time in American history we are just finishing up with WWII and there was a major change in woman’s roles in the work force. With the large amount of men being away, serving there country, women had to take the roles of both family life and work life. This had a skewed relationship with the housing structure and even on the structure of marriage. To be the “breadwinner” of the family was on the man side of responsibility, however women were fighting for a more utilitarian division of labor. They too could become independent from a man and make a living wage for her. These lead women to seeking a job and not just settling for the housekeeping position. This Parsons argues is a good thing for the labor force. With the stress on sex roles it was essential for the institution to scope out the valuations of personal achievement. These status giving occupational roles were not only achieved through hard work, they were the relevance of family revelation. With both husband and wife working outside the home and trying to provide a responsible marriage and teamwork structure has to be in it-self work. The individual personalities need to take full responsibility as a partnership of these life choices. We live in a time where there needs to be a proper balance of the sexes. Men and women are now responsible for both values of culture both domestically and outside of the home. Talcott emphasized the value of kinship and the family structure and explained the change that we were experiencing was an emphasis to embrace women in work, and have a partnership in the relationship of the family.

Funny video to show how roles are changing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBT1iW2hgF4