The Evolution of Family Policy in the United States after World War II
Families have changed substantially over the last half-century in the United States, and family policy has evolved in response. Many kinds of policies have emerged over the years that affect families. Policies in their early stages tend to be directed at specific problems. There are policies relating to marriage and divorce, others concerned with child care, some with work by mothers, and others with income support for families. These policies initially tended to be specialised, each concerned with its own aspect of family behavior. But family behavior itself is not compartmentalised. One aspect of behaviour is interrelated with others. To illustrate the interdependencies in both behaviour and policy as well as the disagreements, single parenting, a behavior in the family structure domain, may increase the risk to family income and the likelihood of poverty. This chapter examines the evolution of family policy in the United States after World War II.
Keywords: United States, family policy, single parenting, families, marriage, divorce, child care, working mothers, income support, family behaviour
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .