scholarly journals The First Mrs. Rochester: Wrongful Confinement, Social Redundancy, and Commitment to the Private Asylum, 1883‑1923

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-167
Author(s):  
Cheryl Krasnick Warsh
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Birth Rate ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Case Histories

Abstract Historians have debated the growth of asylums as either a movement towards social control or as a benevolent reform; yet commitment was primarily initiated by kin. The rapid overcrowding of asylums reflected the success of institutions in responding to family crises. Through analysis of 1,134 case histories of a private asylum, the Homewood Retreat of Guelph, Ontario, the dynamics of the late Victorian and Edwardian middle-class household are evident in the circumstances which culminated in the decision to commit. Urban industrialization and the declining birth rate rendered households less able to care for the insane, while the permeation of capitalist relations into family life rendered the heads of households less willing to care for nonproductive adult members, particularly socially redundant women. The diagnosis of neurasthenia enabled members of the middle class to institutionalize kin for behaviour which, although not violent or destructive, was irritating and antagonistic, thereby reflecting the high standard of middle-class proprieties.

Family Life in Lower and Middle Class Homes

1952 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carson McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Life

Family policy for all South African families

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1189-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlize Rabe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
South African ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Family Diversity ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
African Families

The ‘White Paper of Families in South Africa’ is critically analysed in this article. It is shown that although family diversity is acknowledged in the aforementioned document, certain implications of the document undermine such professed diversity, not all caretakers of children are acknowledged and supported, and financially vulnerable families are not strengthened. Instead, narrow ideals of family life are at times promoted, suggesting middle-class heterosexual values. It is argued here that the realities of family life should be accepted as such and family in different forms should be supported consistently, not subtly pushed to conform to restricted interpretations of what families should be like.

Coming Home to The Brady Bunch

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-460
Author(s):  
Miroslava Chávez-García
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Race Ethnicity ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Racial Ethnic

The television sitcom The Brady Bunch (1969–1974) and its subsequent reruns presented upper-middle-class whiteness and a version of idealized family life as normative. Its underrepresentation of racial, ethnic, and class differences did more than serve as a form of escapism for young Latina/o television watchers—it impacted their sense of identity and self-esteem, their attitudes toward their own parents, and their own later modes of parenting, as the author’s personal experience illustrates. At the same time, the series’ few episodes that did depict minority characters encouraged stereotyping that influenced the larger population. A content and visual analysis of episodes of The Brady Bunch confirms the sitcom’s repeated themes of gender and sexuality and its near absence of focus on differences of race, ethnicity, and class.

Childhood Socialization and Companion Animals: United States, 1820-1870

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C. Grier
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Conscious Choice ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Cruelty To Animals ◽  
Good And Evil

AbstractBetween 1820 and 1870, middle-class Americans became convinced of the role nonhuman animals could play in socializing children. Companion animals in and around the household were the medium for training children into self-consciousness about, and abhorrence of, causing pain to other creatures including, ultimately, other people. In an age where the formation of character was perceived as an act of conscious choice and self-control, middle-class Americans understood cruelty to animals as a problem both of individual or familial deficiency and of good and evil. Training children to be self-conscious about kindness became an important task of parenting. Domestic advisors also argued that learning kindness was critical for boys who were developmentally prone to cruelty and whose youthful cruelty had implications both for the future of family life and for the body politic. The practice of pet keeping, where children became stewards of companion animals who were then able to teach young humans such virtues as gratitude and fidelity, became a socially meaningful act.

scholarly journals Homem ideal em revista no Jornal das Moças (anos 1950)

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-192
Author(s):  
Lucas Santos Rosa ◽  
Maria Cecilia Barreto Amorim Pilla
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Family Life ◽  
The 1950S

Cada período constrói estereótipos e seus próprios meios e regramentos que podem ser veiculados de diversas formas, os periódicos podem ser importantes maneiras de divulgar esses padrões, incutir ensinamentos, moldar categorias. Dessa forma é que o presente artigo pretende conhecer modelos que corresponderiam ao desejado “homem ideal”, o tão almejado “bom para casar”, que garantiria uma vida familiar segura e digna. Para tanto, constituem fontes dessa pesquisa a revista Jornal das Moças ao longo dos anos 1950, um periódico quinzenal que dirigido às mulheres das classes médias das cidades brasileiras aconselharam suas leitoras a buscarem idealizações de si mesmas e que em sua íntima procura e responsabilidade seriam capazes de encontrar seus pares que revelariam qualidades a elas complementares correspondentes ao companheiro “ideal”. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: “homem ideal”; “marido ideal”, estereótipo do masculino.   ABSTRACT Each period builds stereotypes and its own means and regulations that can be conveyed in different ways, journals can be important ways to disseminate these standards, instill teachings, shape categories. In this way, the present article intends to know models that would correspond to the desired "ideal man", the longed for "good to marry", that would guarantee a safe and dignified family life. Therefore, the sources of this research is the “Jornal das Moças” during the 1950s, a biweekly magazine aimed at middle-class women in Brazilian cities that advised their readers to seek idealizations of themselves and that in their intimate search and responsibility they would be able to find their peers who would reveal complementary qualities corresponding to their "ideal" companion. KEYWORDS: “ideal man”, “ideal husband”, male stereotype

scholarly journals Russian Pro-Natalist Policy and Its Hidden Dilemma

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-402
Author(s):  
Y.V. Latov ◽  
◽  
N.V. Latova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Birth Rate ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Middle Class Families

The demographic policy of the Russian government, which aims to ‘preserve and increase the people’, combines two qualitatively different approaches to understanding the problem of population decline. Most often, the emphasis is placed on stimulating fertility, although there is also an understanding that it is important to raise the quality of their upbringing and education. While the focus on increasing human capital is economically justified, the desire to increase the birth rate has no such justification. The theory of demographic transition proves that stimulating the birth rate is an erroneous goal. The ‘cash for babies’ policy applied in Russia is based on the conviction that children, even those born in poor and dysfunctional families, inevitably ‘pass’ through the education system and become qualified workers. On the basis of this stereotype, the system of pro-natalist incentives is built in such a way that, in accordance with the law of diminishing marginal utility, it creates stronger incentives for poorer families and is therefore actually aimed at increasing the birth rate primarily in the poor strata, having little effect on middle-class families. Meanwhile, modern theories of social capital and labor market signals prove the limited ability of schools and universities to play the role of social elevators. International studies (in particular, in the USA) shows that state benefits for children of poor and disadvantaged families contribute to the reproduction of a culture of poverty. Therefore, when the Russian authorities provide assistance primarily to low-income and single-parent families with children, they create problems for the future. The study proposes to replace the current policy based on the principle ‘more babies but cheaper’ with a policy aimed at middle-class families and based on the principle ‘less is more’. Thus, an orientation towards stimulating population growth is replaced by an orientation towards fostering human capital.

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