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they are intrinsically good or evil–
combine to relieve her of the tasks
that formerly made the home the
time-consuming but fulfi ll ing envi–
ronment it once was.
O. Hobart Mowrer adds his ob–
servations of this situa tion: "... T he
availabi lity of prepared foods and
ready-made clothing has made the
domestic skills of women much less
important than they once were. And
since we are now moving toward
few rather than many children per
family. even childbearing and the
role of mothering are less satisfying
and honored. As a result, women
have increasingly sought employ–
ment outside the home, often in
competition with and, hopefully, on
an equal footing wíth men. Home–
making and devotion to the interests
of family life have thus often given
way to absorption in a job or profes–
sion of sorne sort, which has created
confusion and conflict with respect
to role expectations and the division
of labor between husbands and
wives" ("New Hope and Help for
the Disintegrating American Fam–
ily,"
Journal o.f Family Counseling.
Spring 1975, p. 19).
So thc Industrial Revolution has
dramatically affected traditional
marriage and family life.
Can the Nuclear Family Survlve?
After reading this overview. one
might be tempted to conclude that
thc nuclear family has "had it" as
an institution ; that it will never sur–
vive the twentieth century. lt is true
that the nuclear famíly as ít operates
today stands in need of reevalua–
tion.
It
needs scrutiny, study and
enhancement or it will surely con–
tínue to fail o r break down in many
cases. lt is true that we need to iso–
late those cause-and-effect factors
léading to such breakdown. and we
must improve the education of po–
tentíal young marrieds in order to
arm them with knowledge and un–
derstanding. They must be taught
what to expect- and not to expect–
from marríage. They must be taught
to balance pie-in-the-sky idealism
against the hard realities of life in
the twentieth century.
But the nuclear family is far from
ready for extreme unction. While it
is
in deep trouble, it still remains the
only social institution that truly ful-
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1977
fills human needs both organiza–
tionally and emotionally. Betty
Yorburg, wri tíng in
The Changing
Family,
optimístically predicts "the
nuclear family will not only persist
into the twenty-first century, but it
will be stronger than ever."
She adds that "optimal emotional
gratification requires a stable, de–
pendable one-to-one re lationship
· between human beings. . . . This
need for an enduring and secure
source of emotional gratifica–
tion ... is a major reason why mari–
tal pairing relationships will persist
in the highly automated America of
the future, although for different
reasons than in the past. These rela–
tionships wíll increasingly be sanc–
tioned less by mutual economíc
necessity and conceptions of duty
than by recognized psychological
necessi ty."
Yorburg concludes: "Marriage
and the nuclear family will continue
as basic institutíons in human so–
cieties, functioning imperfectly and
inefficiently. and sometimes malevo–
lently. but persevering because it is
not possible to come up wíth any–
thíng more workable to provide for
the basíc emotional needs of human
beings-youog or old"
(Tite Chang–
ing Family,
Columbia University
Press. 1973. pp. 191-194).
Sam Heilig, psychiatric social
worker and director of the Los An–
geles Suicide Prevention Center.
concurs. He states that "only a fam–
ily relationship- completc with mar–
riage and kids- can provide people
with the constant support they need.
a sense of belonging ...." (Bella
Stumbo, "The Lonely Young- Their
lsolation Can Be Deadly." Los An–
geles
Times,
April 28, 1975).
rt
may be said with utter certainty
that the nuclear family is the best
human institution we have.
It
really
is the basic building block of any
stable, godly society. But times have
changed. The reality of today is dif–
ferent from the rea lity of Paul's
day- or Abraham's. Tcchnology has
changed things. Social values and
mores are different.
Today's
woman- not to mention today's
man-have come a long way from
their first-century counterpans.
Yet human nature remains what
it always has been. And man is still
a social creature. Man needs the sta-
bility provided by the traditional
family setup. We all need a family
base from which to launch our lives.
lf we are willing to face the reality
of life in the soaring seventies and
honestly address ourselves to those
very real factors which lead to fam–
ily breakdown, there is hope. T he
fami ly can have more meaning and
efficacy as a social institution than
ever before in history- if we are
willing to
work
at making it success–
ful and relevant to our age and
time.
T he family will survive.
It
has to.
But whether it survives in a
crippled form- or whether it contin–
ues to exist on a transcendentally
higher plane than ever before- is
entirely up to those who participate
in the institution ofthe family.
The family is as good, or as bad.
as we make it.
As space permits, future articles
will continue to explore the family,
its problems and attractions, and
will provide const ructive suggestions
and solut ions to soine of the prob–
lems which currently beset this
time-honored institution.
o
ls marriage
obsolete?
ls marriage, like the Brown Peli–
can, in danger of extinction? De–
pending on which expert you
consult , marriage is either
(a) declining, (b) already dead ,
or (e) making a mild comeback.
In any case, there's been a major
shakeup of values. The impor–
tant thing is: what does this
mean to
you?
Whether you' re
single . married. or con–
templating divorce, you'll find
the booklet
Why
Marriage?
most
helpful. lt's free-just return the
coupon on the back cover of this
magazine.
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