Family Trends and Changes
At the start of the 1950s, the United States was undergoing a rapidly increasing birth rate that lasted for 18 years. This moment in time is known as the "Baby Boom." Annual births exceeded two percent of the world's population. A common belief among the world at this time was that continual population growth was inevitable. This belief easily escalated to frantic worry after Paul R. Ehrlich published his book, The Population Bomb where he predicted the world's environment would be destroyed because of the amount of babies we were reproducing. This book predicted that the world would inevitably become overpopulated, and the world would soon run out of enough resources for everyone. Ehrlich predicted specific instances such as mass starvation by the 1970s, oil supply running out in the 1980s, and overwhelming amounts of pollution destroying the environment. The world went into a frenzy all because of this book which contained only opinions of a man.
Naturally, the world is already believed to be overpopulated, so there have been various governments which have set policies to control families. This belief combined with the opinions of Ehrlich in The Population Bomb have set off various trends that have changed traditions and opinions of the world. The most obvious change: couples are having fewer kids or no kids at all. In fact, fertility rates have decreased around the world.; over 90 countries have sub-replacement fertility. This means that if the total fertility rate is sustained, each generation becomes less populous than the older/previous one in that area. What caused the fall in fertility rates? There was the development of birth control pills which were released to society in the 1960s. Revolutions occurred such as the Women's Revolution and the Sexual Revolution. Sexual activity outside of marriage became the norm, and as a product divorce rates increased and fertility dropped. Sex was separated from reproduction, and since society was more accepting of sex outside of marriage, fewer were motivated to get married and start a family. Early feminism made its first appearance during the Women's Revolution. Trends such as women in school and having careers overruled being a mom.
Now, don't get me wrong. I strongly support women's rights and equality. I mean, look at me: I'm a student, and I love learning. I have a plan for my future career, and I look forward to it! What I'm saying is the value of families went down along with the decrease in fertility which has just as much of an impact on the world as the concern of being overpopulated.
What's the big deal? You may ask yourself why you should care about these events if it doesn't even affect you directly. You might be happy with your large or small family, or you may be content living an independent life with no intention of ever getting married or having kids because they're so overrated. Newsflash: it does affect you, and it will affect your posterity. These trends have affected the way the world views families. For example, in some countries it is unheard of to have more than one sibling. Under some governments, it is frowned upon to have more than two kids. Bearing children is becoming less important and seen as unnecessary. If we stop having kids, who is going to take care of us when we're older? Right now, the younger, healthier generation is working harder to supply the retired generation because there are less of us than there is of them. In fact, the retirement age is predicted to be soon increased to at least 68 years or older.
Our economy is affected by the smaller generations to come because human capital is declining. Strong families are essential for effective human capitalism! For those of us who have siblings, I think it's fair to say that we learned from a young age the values of patience, sharing, and cooperation with others. Of course, as kids we weren't perfect, but we had to learn to be selfless and hardworking. Families are a natural support system. Extended family members such as cousins, aunts, and uncles provide a network of people who help each other out. This helps practice credibility and trust in the economy. I know that there are broken families out there that may disagree with me. All I have to say to that is my heart breaks for those who grew up without the support a family should provide, and hopefully those who are affected by broken homes know that they can prevent a cycle of brokenness by doing more for their own family!
I am the second oldest in a family of seven, and I love it! I know others view my family as "too big," but I honestly can not imagine my life without my loving parents, three sisters, and one brother. I also can not fathom not having the 30+ cousins I have. Even though we are so spread out, we have a connection that you just can't replace or duplicate. It is because of my family that I am who I am today. I am an advocate for families no matter what the size, and I believe the amount of children a couple has is between the mother, father, and God. I just hope you take my opinions and do your own research to understand the importance of families in society.
Please add your comments or feel free to contact me with any questions! :)
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| Image found on documentary New Economic Reality: Demographic Winterhttps://www.byutv.org/player/59b6b917-984a-478f-93b1-521a647779c4/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter-part-1?q=demographic%20winter |
Naturally, the world is already believed to be overpopulated, so there have been various governments which have set policies to control families. This belief combined with the opinions of Ehrlich in The Population Bomb have set off various trends that have changed traditions and opinions of the world. The most obvious change: couples are having fewer kids or no kids at all. In fact, fertility rates have decreased around the world.; over 90 countries have sub-replacement fertility. This means that if the total fertility rate is sustained, each generation becomes less populous than the older/previous one in that area. What caused the fall in fertility rates? There was the development of birth control pills which were released to society in the 1960s. Revolutions occurred such as the Women's Revolution and the Sexual Revolution. Sexual activity outside of marriage became the norm, and as a product divorce rates increased and fertility dropped. Sex was separated from reproduction, and since society was more accepting of sex outside of marriage, fewer were motivated to get married and start a family. Early feminism made its first appearance during the Women's Revolution. Trends such as women in school and having careers overruled being a mom.
Now, don't get me wrong. I strongly support women's rights and equality. I mean, look at me: I'm a student, and I love learning. I have a plan for my future career, and I look forward to it! What I'm saying is the value of families went down along with the decrease in fertility which has just as much of an impact on the world as the concern of being overpopulated.
What's the big deal? You may ask yourself why you should care about these events if it doesn't even affect you directly. You might be happy with your large or small family, or you may be content living an independent life with no intention of ever getting married or having kids because they're so overrated. Newsflash: it does affect you, and it will affect your posterity. These trends have affected the way the world views families. For example, in some countries it is unheard of to have more than one sibling. Under some governments, it is frowned upon to have more than two kids. Bearing children is becoming less important and seen as unnecessary. If we stop having kids, who is going to take care of us when we're older? Right now, the younger, healthier generation is working harder to supply the retired generation because there are less of us than there is of them. In fact, the retirement age is predicted to be soon increased to at least 68 years or older.
Our economy is affected by the smaller generations to come because human capital is declining. Strong families are essential for effective human capitalism! For those of us who have siblings, I think it's fair to say that we learned from a young age the values of patience, sharing, and cooperation with others. Of course, as kids we weren't perfect, but we had to learn to be selfless and hardworking. Families are a natural support system. Extended family members such as cousins, aunts, and uncles provide a network of people who help each other out. This helps practice credibility and trust in the economy. I know that there are broken families out there that may disagree with me. All I have to say to that is my heart breaks for those who grew up without the support a family should provide, and hopefully those who are affected by broken homes know that they can prevent a cycle of brokenness by doing more for their own family!
I am the second oldest in a family of seven, and I love it! I know others view my family as "too big," but I honestly can not imagine my life without my loving parents, three sisters, and one brother. I also can not fathom not having the 30+ cousins I have. Even though we are so spread out, we have a connection that you just can't replace or duplicate. It is because of my family that I am who I am today. I am an advocate for families no matter what the size, and I believe the amount of children a couple has is between the mother, father, and God. I just hope you take my opinions and do your own research to understand the importance of families in society.
Please add your comments or feel free to contact me with any questions! :)
Wow! This is really interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing what you are learning.
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