Critical Introduction

Hello readers! Welcome to our blog! We are four scholars undergraduate students at The University of Maryland studying rhetoric. After heavy research and preparation, we are pleased to present to you our blog The Evolution of the Nuclear Family. Our focus for this blog is the change of the “typical” nuclear family from the 1960’s to the 21st century. All of us have family, as the definition of “family” is very broad. They can have one, two, sometimes even three parents; ones with two moms, two dads, no siblings and ten siblings. All in all, everyone has family, and in the 21st century the term “nuclear family” means something entirely different than it did in the 1960’s. We wanted to study the difference in the word “family” and look at the norms of 50 years ago, and compare/contrast them to the norms that we have now. What has changed in the past 50 years that changed the whole outlook of a “normal family”? And what constitutes a “typical” family today as opposed to one 50 years ago?

By comparing the “typical” families portrayed in the video “A Date With Your Family,” and the article “Raising Kids in Non-Nuclear Families,” one can garner that a revolution has occurred in the structure of the nuclear family from the 1960s until now.  While a “typical” family in the 1960s consisted of a mother, father, son, and daughter, today a wide variety of family structures are now common and widely accepted.  This contrast can be clearly seen when comparing our two texts.  In “A Date With Your Family,” the typical 1960s family is portrayed.  The mother cooked dinner and sewed, the daughter helped set the table, the older brother helped the younger sibling with homework, the father came home from work, and all together they enjoyed a family dinner and lively conversation.  In “Raising Kids in Non-Nuclear Families,” however, the structure of the modern nuclear family is portrayed completely differently. It discusses three particular family settings: single parent, single sex, and multigenerational households, and provides “do’s” and “dont’s” for parenting in such situations. These family structures are common today, however in the 1960s they were extraordinarily rare, and generally frowned upon.

Today, “non-traditional” family structures are so common that they are forced to be a part of our national subconscious.  With divorce rates in America approaching 50%, what was once considered a “typical” family is now somewhat a-typical.  While “non-traditional” family structures are becoming more culturally accepted, debate on how they will be seen in the eyes of law is ongoing.  Recently, legislation has been passed in many states guaranteeing marriage equality, thus  protecting various non-traditional family structures. Family in the 21st century no longer has a finite definition, and as our society progresses further and further, we must stop to consider what a “typical” family really means. We wanted our blog to stimulate our audience to consider this important issue, to show the evolution of what family is, and to widen our audience’s views on what a “typical” family can be.

In order to accomplish our goal, we created a blog highlighting the arguments and rhetorical techniques of two contrasting texts.  We began our blog by posting on the kairos and rhetorical arguments of each text.  By doing so, we revealed a critical contrast in the texts, and thus formed our argument that there has been a revolution in the nuclear family from the 1960s until now.  We continued the blog by posting on the rhetorical techniques of each text, helping the audience to better understand the arguments of the texts, and therefore better understand our argument and purpose.