Changing American Families

Changing American Families by Judy Root Alutte
I found this reading to be incredibly fascinating. It’s amazing to me the coloration between economic status and the culture it creates. The media portrays all the socio-economic differences all the time. As Alutte puts it “are so pervasive they sometimes become invisible”. Even though this is an issue dealt with on a daily level, because of that I never gave much thought to it. Even the idea that there are so many different socio-economic classes is surprising to me. I never knew the differences between classes could be so decisive in terms of how a family operates. I always bunched up working and middle class and I never really picked apart the differences between African American middle class and White middle class. To me they were somewhat different, that’s about all I knew. I thought it was almost comical how I see the differences every day through media and personal experiences but this essay made me look at the issue with new eyes.
The fact that very little research has been done on the upper class surprised me greatly, I would expect that they would be well researched. It was strange that their culture seemed so secretive. It was even more surprising to learn the importance of family name, marriage, and social accountability. It reminds me of the way royalty would behave. The social parties to encourage marriage amongst the children of the elite and the idea of preservation of the family estate contradicted the way I viewed the upper class. I assumed they had an endless supply of money and spent it that way. I also found the difference between white middle class and black middle class intriguing. The white middle class encourage their children to “fallow their hearts” so to speak and that their success is their own. On the flip side, African Americans feel that their success is not just their own, but their entire race’s success. The middle class brought an image to my head of one of those men at the airport, cell phone to the ear, laptop in one hand, brief case in the other. The working class seemed to be the one I think of when I think of the All American family. The idea of marrying for love, and separating work and home, It seems Ideal to me.
The immigration socio-economic group seems to be the one with the most controversy surrounding it. It is incredible how the entire familiar culture of Mexican-American immigrants is shifted. The way the husband began to do everything on his own and the need for the wife to become the leader of the home reminded me of military home life. While dad is out on duty, mom is in charge. While dad is gone he takes care of himself. The gender and familiar rolls become unclear and so new ones are formed. The chores are shared and decisions made together. African Americans pioneered this idea in our society and this idea was used against African Americans during the civil rights movement. It’s interesting how new or different cultures from our own can be seen as anything more than just that. There are so many parallels between each class. The one thing all of these classes have in common is their ability to adapt, survive, and carry on a lineage. The preservation of family and success for future generations seems to be key no matter the motivation.