Introduction
The nuclear family is considered the gold standard of family and household structure in many places still despite the fact that it is in decline. Many of the traditional and often conservative values instilled in the era of nuclear families has had disastrous effects on many families today. In this article, we explore the rise and inevitable fall of the nuclear family and what we can do about the current landscape today.
The Rise of the Nuclear Family
The nuclear family rose and thrived because of a collection of cultural, economic and social factors that diverged during the 1950s. Leading up to that point, the norm of the nuclear family had already become dominant over the previous family structure, the corporate family.
The corporate family was born of a need for labour. The majority of the North American population was comprised of farmers and small businesses. The work for these occupations was labour intensive and many farmers and small business owners were driven to have more children and larger families to assist with the burden of their workload. Additionally, families stayed together in the same business. This was the norm for most of the 1800s and into the early 19th century. However, there was a shift in the early 19th century that caused the corporate family to decline.
In the early 19th century, North American culture shifted towards individualism with a focus on personal and individual success rather than collective and familial success. As we mentioned in our article, Community: A Remedy for Isolation and Loneliness, this pushed families away from the extended model and focused more on the immediate family. Additionally, the economic climate shifted and wages boomed for the middle and working-class people. Children were raised to pursue their independent desires in life rather than to prioritise working for the family business. This led to a different family structure: the working patriarch that supported the family financially, the mother who stayed at home with housework and child-rearing duties, and two to three children. This structure thrived in the economic and cultural climate at the time.
By the 1920s, the nuclear family was the new dominant family structure. The cultural and community structure in North America at the time allowed this structure to proliferate and thrive. Unlike the present time, goods and services were localised as there wasn’t the capacity to have a wider logistical framework particularly for things such as perishable produce. Nuclear families benefited from connecting and fostering relationships with each other. Many communities were much more open more due to necessity. Additionally, a high presence of church and community fostered this culture further. Marriage was considered mandatory and many unmarried couples would be ostracised as they were seen as immoral.
The period between 1950 and 1965 was the peak of the nuclear family. By 1960, 77.5% of all children in America lived with two married parents and no extended family in their household. This trend was not sustainable outside of the economic and cultural environment of that time period.
The Inevitable Fall
At the decline of the 60s, the economic landscape began to change. By the mid-70s, wages for the average household had stagnated while manufacturing and agricultural jobs began to decline. With the later stages of cultural hyperfocus on individualism coming to fruition, the middle and working-class families began to feel the pressure. It was no longer viable for these families to have a single parent financially supporting the household, women had to go to work. Additionally, marriage was in decline while single-parent families and households without children were on the rise.
Economic pressure on families pushed them further away from their extended relatives. It was no longer viable to live close and convenient near your parents or siblings. This wasn’t an issue for affluent families as they had the funds to afford the nuclear family lifestyle. Unfortunately for middle and working-class families, this economic pressure created a negative cycle that perpetuated the economic and social gap.
Highly individualistic people will prioritise themselves over others. This means they are less inclined to sacrifice themselves for their family, which further the pressure on family relationships. This leads to high levels of family disruption which creates a negative environment for the children of these families. These children will often struggle due to this disruption in both educational and professional facets of their lives which in turn continues the cycle of isolation and trauma.
What Can We Do Now?
The good news is that we are already doing it. Late-stage individualism has brought enough negative impacts that culture has begun to shift and trend to more collective trends and qualities.
Since 2008, largely in part due to the economic crisis, households began to change. Multigenerational households began to trend up as families began to live together to sustain each other during the economic hardship. Additionally, due to the current system of higher education, many young adults are continuing to live with their parents for longer. Cohousing communities are on the rise. There are more than 300 communities in the USA with many more in development. Many condominiums and co-op buildings are moving to a model with more community focus in mind.
All of these statistics and trends point to a slow cultural shift. We are at a turning point where we need to redefine the traditional home as a fluid concept instead of a cookie-cutter template.
Co-ownership is another household type that is on the rise especially in metropolitan and urban areas. Co-ownership allows you to define and tailor your household to create and foster your family and community within your home. It is more than just owning four walls and a roof and that’s important especially today. The nuclear family archetype is an archaic and outdated social structure that is incongruous with our broad and multifaceted society. We need to embrace a different mindset and open ourselves to a fluid household that is able to accommodate families of all shapes and sizes.
Conclusion
It matters not what kind of family you come from, what matters is what kind of family you want to create. By all means, if the nuclear family structure works for you, then go for it. But it’s important to remember that it isn’t a gold standard and that there are so many other options for families of all types. GOCO encourages people to look at co-ownership as a means to help create and foster their own family structure and be inspired to create their own communities.