The Role of Women in Japan and Middle East Research Paper

The Role of Women in Japan and Middle East - Research Paper Example This essay will discuss the impact of globalization on different types of families in different societies and cultures. The terms ‘traditional’, ‘modern’ and ‘postmodern’ will be defined, elaborated upon and discussed on a continuum of change. Social change, in the face of globalization, will be discussed with relation to how cultures and families have grown or resisted the forces of globalization. We now turn to an exploration of the types of families in the world and follow with a concise description of the American family of today. Ranging from ‘traditional’ to ‘postmodern’, there are a variety of family forms in this world. For the theoretical purposes of this essay, a family will be defined as â€Å"two or more people who are in a relationship created by birth, marriage or choice.† (Roopnarine & Gielen 33). There are a multitude of family forms and family types across the globe and the global family is a social unit in a constant state of evolution. The ‘traditional’ family is a heterosexual, nuclear family headed by two parents in which the husband is the primary breadwinner and the wife is the homemaker. On the far left side of the continuum of change, the traditional nuclear family model is widespread across the globe and represents a traditional gendered division of labour, both within the house as well as outside of the home. In the Western world, the traditional model is becoming less and less viable as many families require the incomes of both parents. Wom en’s increased education and employment prospects have made the transition from the traditional model to the modern familial model more and more prevalent in modern Western society (Bossen 128-133; Roopnarine & Gielen 32-34). As with the traditional family, the ‘modern family’ is nuclear in the sense that it involves the cohabitation of two heterosexual partners but differs in that it involves dual