Zuyan’s Summary
Summary of “The Changing American Family”
By Herbert S. Klein
http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/6798
Summary:
According to Herbert’s article “The Changing American Family” (July 30, 2004), the author talked about the American family has undergone a profound transformation during the past 20 years. This article talks about the reasons that how American family developed and changed, and what the common American family is.
In Herbert’s article, Herbert found out the American family has changed during the past 20 years. Herbert stated since 1980s, the traditional American family has been undergoing profound transformations for all ages, all races, and all ethnic groups. Every aspect of the American family is experiencing change. In 2000, the proportion of persons who over 15 years old and never married reached the historic levels, it is about a third of the men and a quarter of the women were listed as never having married. Now, more and more old age people are living alone or without other generations present than the before. In 1910, most old people (age over 65) living with their children and only 12% of them live alone. However, by 1990 almost 70% of old people (age over 65) live alone. There was also a big rise in “empty nest” households, with elderly couples no longer having resident children of any age. Herbert also mentioned the factors influencing these trends everywhere in the modern industrial world seem to be the same—late marriages, women increasing their participation in the workforce and thus having higher incomes, and changing beliefs in the importance and necessity of marriage. All those facts showed us the American family had changed a lot.
In the end, Herbert stated the American family, like all families in the Western industrial countries. The American family is now profoundly different from what it used to be in the past. It is usually a household with few children, with both parents working, and they will not have child right away. At the same time, more adults are living alone. These trends have profoundly changed the American family and are unlikely to be reversed any time soon.

Response:
In my opinion, author did a really good job finding the data of the American family and analyzed the reason that affected the American family. The people changed their mind on a lot of things, and it made the traditional American family changed. I have been America for almost one and a half years, and I have been to a lot of my friends’ house, I can felt they all have their own family culture. Every family is different because the way they have been educated, the way they lived, and the place the grown up… all the causes can make a family different. Even though every family is different in America, I still agree with Herbert “The American family typically is a household with few children, with both parents working, and with mothers producing their children at ever older ages”.