Should one want a comprehensive view of the family structure and unit, it would be best to look at both in their historical context. Initially, most families were polygamous. Typically, there would be one husband with several wives generating a substantial number of children to continue the paternal line. Obviously, the male served as a strong authoritarian figure, while his female counterparts tended to be submissive. In certain locales, male children eventually gained authority over their mothers far before the age of what is currently held as legal adulthood. Collectivist moral codes, and the ethics derived from them, served as guiding lights for all family members with the happiness of any one individual rendered irrelevant; though perhaps exceptions would be made for the dominant male.
In contemporary America, family matters are unimaginably complicated as they are relative toward the family at hand. Statistics, thankfully, are able to draw a fairly sketchy, but serviceable estimation of the facts on the ground. Roughly half of children reside in single parent households, while one third are born to parents who are not married. The number of unmarried mothers is headed well north of 10,000,000, and a total of 2,000,000 children are now being raised by non heterosexuals. Over 1,600,000 minors live with adopted parents, and the number adopted each year is climbing above 100,000. One in three lesbian households have children, and one in five male gay households are in the same boat. Additionally, one in twenty five children do not even live with their parents.
Maybe father and mother alike do not know best. Here's hoping that grandma, or grandpa, does.
Whether society at large accepts these tough but truthful facts is an immensely interesting question. As the subject of family impacts all segments of society, if it opts against doing so, one of the grandest acts of mass delusion and hypocrisy would take place. Unfortunately, any given society is not immune to such foolishness. In the United States, much of the electorate chooses to brush over or ignore and deny what are simple realities. This is reflected in the so-called family values movement, which rams Tinseltown’s aforementioned content across the airwaves, through the mail service, and into voting booths during election season. Despite this, there are millions upon millions of others who acknowledge things as they are and continue moving forward. Such a great variance of opinion is what keeps the American political pendulum swinging back and forth year after year, with no end visible on the horizon. The very touchy topic of why some accept or reject contemporary family ultimately depends upon the individual. Many apply their own religious beliefs to the equation, while others are shaped by their life experiences.