Question

Based on reading #7 “Changing Families: As Seen on TV?” in Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture, what kinds of forces changed American families? What are the impacts, if any, of popular culture on contemporary families? For instance, to what extent the TV families changed real families, and is it functioning in today’s society.

Answer 1

he perceived ease with which family conflicts are corrected is also influenced by television. The overall attitude toward relationships and commitment seems to got shiifted. More than half of female high school seniors say that having a child outside of marriage is acceptable, according to a recent poll from the University of Michigan Survey Research Center. And census data shows that 26 percent of all households are made up of a single person, living alone (as opposed to 13 percent back in 1960).

Family formation patterns are also changing. Increasingly, both men and women want to first establishthemselves in the labour market before founding a family. Hence, the age of mothers at first childbirth has risen and with it the probability of having fewer children than previous generations. Many women remain childless. Birth rates have fallen and life expectancy has increased, so there are fewer children and more grandparents than before. Female educational attainment and female employment participation have both risen over the last 30 years

Since its invention, television has enjoyed an increasingly prominent presence in the homes of western families. In fact, as of 2000, the vast majority (98%) of American households owned at least one television set (Wilson 2004). The prevalence of televisions has grown such that families are no longer content to have a single television in their home`s living room, they also feel the need to have television sets in their kitchens and bedrooms as well. This increased number of television sets throughout the household has created the opportunity for time traditionally spent on interactive family activities to be replaced with time spent in a more passive family environment.

Children in single-parent homes spend more time watching TV, are more likely to eat meals with the TV on, are more likely to have a TV in the bedroom. This fact supports the idea that parents are inclined to resort to utilizing television as a substitute for companionship for their children.

Additionally, family members have the tendency to turn to television in an attempt to escape feelings of stress. In a study done by Anderson, Collins, Schmitt and Jacobvitz (1996), a distinct correlation was found between the amount of television parents watched and the amount of stressful occurrences they experienced. Likewise, children have also demonstrated a proclivity to flee to television in an attempt to waylay daily anxieties. Proof of this behaviour can be seen in a study performed by Brooks, Gaines, Mueller and Jenkins.

In fact, studies have shown that heavy television viewers are at a greater risk to become aggressive or experience fear reactions than those who watch television infrequently (Wilson 2004)

The content of the television programs watched by families also plays a significant role in influencing how interfamilial relationships function. As television portrayals of exchanges within families are typically unrepresentative of real family relationships, a false sense of normal family interactions is transferred to viewers .

"We have moved from what's most ideal to what's most entertaining," said James Hibberd, TV editor for The Hollywood Reporter. "We have moved from what's most ideal to what's most entertaining," said James Hibberd, TV editor for The Hollywood Reporter.

Presently the change in the american is to some extent is due to television too. As episodes in television particularly helped to change one's ideology which influences onself and also his/her family too. Being single parent, or having child before marriage, gay acceptance have grown and to some extent television brought and even help individuals to accept such changes.