By Staff Writer | Last Updated August 4, 2015
The post-modern family has adjusted to popular post-modernist experimentation in society. Role reversal among parents and espousing ideas from numerous sources, in general, characterize the post-modern family theory.
A post-modern family consists of one or more parents and one or more children. Ambiguous roles and changeable purpose characterize the theoretical basis for the post-modern family. In traditional societies, male and female roles were less obscure. American women’s liberation ideology that emerged in the late 20th century subverted traditional concepts of family and the women’s purpose in and out of the home. Men and women who have accepted these ideas have grown suspicious of former gender definitions and the purpose of the family unit, opting instead for less rigid and unconventional behaviors.
In the post-modern family, the parent role is less defined by personhood and more by tasks that are easily commodified. Women who are pre-occupied with workplace duties use paid employees to care for their children. When putting their careers first, women manipulate child-bearing tasks by freezing their eggs, conceiving through artificial insemination or using surrogates to bear their children. Tremendous advances in the food sector enable families to acquire nutrition by microwaving pre-packaged foods while avoiding time-consuming food gathering and preparation tasks.
The rise of consumerism and sexual freedoms have facilitated the post-modern family’s way of life, ideas about which are validated and reinforced through technology and the spread of ideas. Conclusively, post-modern families exist by experimental means that are continually redefined by external forces.
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