"Family in the News"

For this week's exercise, I chose to focus on the issue of divorce in America, seeing that its increasing rate is often referenced as proof that the American family is in decline. As a child coming from a family of divorce, I was interested to read various articles about the subject.
"For their sake" ANG Newspaper, May 4, 2006
In this article, written by a pastor, he refers to his experience as a pastor for forty years as a source of his observations on divorce within his own church. To grasp the issue of divorce on a national scale, he references a survey done by the Institute for American Values, and cites his findings accordingly. The survey provides statistical information on the effect of divorce on children. The author enables the reader to check the validity of the survey that provides the article with much of its statistics by including in parentheses the website of the institution that conducted the survey. The majority of the research findings are a result of the author's observation in his church. As readers, we don't have a way to really validate his findings. The pastor's religious beliefs appear to be the driving forces in the article. Divorce is looked down upon by religion, and it is clear that the pastor feels the same way.

"Getting hitched" National Review, January 24th, 2007
This article actually takes the form of an interview between the editor of National Review Online and the author of a book about marriage in America. The introduction clearly states that the information in the article is gathered from an interview between two clearly stated individuals. Should the reader want to consult further findings or to evaluate the quality of the research, the name of the author's book is stated in the article. The article provides many statistics about divorce rates, out-of-wedlock birth rates, and percentages of marriage of educated and un-educated women to name a few. The article also consults surveys, however, the exact surveys taken are not specified. Much of the information in the article seems to come from the research conducted by the author in writing her book, but the reader does not know exactly how that research was conducted. Part of the article discusses politics, making it clear that the author's political beliefs plays some role in her view on marriage and divorce in America. The author has a specific interest in the effects of socio-economics on divorce that drives her beliefs.

"Till death, or living in America, do us part" Fort Worth Star, July 27th, 2006
This article takes a look at America's problem with divorce by making comparisons between native-born Americans and immigrants. Like the other articles, it gains strength from offering up a slew of statistics about various divorce rates and other numbers to draw a contrast between the culture of divorce plaguing America and the lower divorce rates in other countries. The author scarcely offers the source of his statistics, though, causing the reader to question the validity of the facts. A bit more convincing is his direct reference, through quotations, to a specific family of Mexican immigrants. Although the reader is unaware of how this family was chosen, he/she at least knows the source of the information. There doesn't seem to be a predominant set of beliefs or ideologies that guides this article, just an awareness of the differences in cultures between the U.S. and other countries, specifically Mexico.

"Collaborative divorce" Primedia Business Magazine, March 1st, 2006
This article discusses an alternative type of divorce called collaborative divorce, which the author believes helps to eliminate some of the harmful hostility that traditionally accompanies a normal divorce. The author quotes many various attorneys and divorce representatives from around the country in providing information about the new type of divorce through sharing their experiences. Clearly, the research was conducted by contacting numerous experts within the field and interviewing them. The author makes specific reference to a few court cases to show the positive effects of filing a collaborative divorce. The author of this article seems to be driven by the benefits a collaborative divorce can have for the attorney and divorce coaches involved more than the actual family involved. It seems to be more about business, law, and making more money with less work.

"Divorce New York Style" The New York Times, February 19th, 2006
Of all of the articles, this one takes the firmest stance on the subject of divorce. It states how the state of New York's acceptance of unilateral no-fault divorces is an extremely bad idea. Only one paragraph in the entire article contains statistics. The source of the statistics is stated as a study conducted in Connecticut, giving the reader limited information to assess the quality of the information. The majority of the "facts" in the article are presented in a very opinionated way with no indication of where they came from. The article seems to be more of a persuasive piece than an informative piece. A feministic set of beliefs seems to guide the article in that the author is the president of New York's National Organization of Women and focuses on the negative effects that unilateral no-fault divorce have on women.

All of the articles, however different their focuses are, agree upon the fact that divorce is a highly important issue that is currently plaguing many families throughout the United States. Some major debates that appear in the articles include what is causing the high divorce rates, how divorce should be approached, whether it should be accepted, and its effects on the members of the family. It is clear from the various authors' stances, that their positions in these debates greatly affect how they present their facts and conclusions. For example, the author of the first article's strong religious beliefs cause him to focus on divorce in the light of religion, using his observations of his parish as his source of information. The author of the last article presents many statistics to show the negative effects of unilateral no-fault divorce on women rather than exposing its effect on children due to her interest in feminism. After realizing the many biases presented in these five articles, it becomes apparent that one must take into consideration the values of the author of articles about controversial issues when formulating one's own opinion. You can't always trust everything you read because the authors pick specific statistics and facts to present the issue in a way that conforms to their personal opinion. Of course, some articles are more objective than others, and vice versa. I think the popular media tends to cover familial issues in a negative way, always highlighting the worst-case scenarios, which leads us to think the family is in more trouble than it actually is in reality.

First Readings-Popenoe, Cowan, Stacey

The assigned readings for this week discuss the controversial topic of whether or not the American family is in decline and if so, the causes for the decline. David Popenoe clearly voices his concern about the decline of the family in America as an institution and its harmful effect on children. He uses various statistics to prove that the family has lost its traditional functions, power and authority, and that people have become too interested in themselves and their own interests to invest time, money and energy into family life. Although Popenoe ostensibly backs up his claims about the causes of the decline of the family with statistics, he makes very bold and unsound statements that his critics pounce on. I, along with his critics, agree that the American family is declining. Statistics on the increasing divorce rate, decreasing marriage rate, and decrease in childrearing clearly show that the family is on the decline, leaving his most avid critics no room to disprove the statement. It is however, his explanations for the decline that leave the critics room to disagree. Popenoe turns correlations into causations without enough evidence to soundly prove his claims. Like Cowan says, Popenoe needs to collect more data in order to make such claims.
Stacey points out three flaws in Popenoe's argument. First, Stacey argues that Popenoe's definition of the family as an institution is flawed. Based on anthropological and historical studies, Stacey views the family as an idealogical, symbolic construct rather than an institution. Secondly, Stacey criticizes Pompenoe's use of the 1950s as a baseline for assessing the decline of the family in following decades. Lastly, Stacey claims that Popenoe does not offer a complete consideration of the alternative beliefs about the decline of the family as an institution. He insists that the opposition must believe either that the family has strengthened or has just remained the same.
Like Stacey, Cowan also agrees that the family is in decline. Cowan, however, rejects his causal analysis of the decline. He believes Popenoe focuses too much attention on the increasing "me-generation" and not enough on the societal forces that affect the family. Cowan also believes that Popenoe only focuses on the flawed families who succumb to the outside pressures instead of trying to learn from those who manage to overcome adversity.
Like all three authors, I completely agree that the American family is in decline, creating a cause for concern. In the debate, I would have to support Cowan's claims that Popenoe's causal analysis is flawed. Popenoe ignores many crucial factors that can cause the family to decline and he fails to provide enough sound evidence to back up his claims on how the various factors cause the decline.