The upper levels of American society used to get regular infusions of diversity, simply from the marriages of their offspring. The smart-but-poor young man who catches the attention of the owner of a business, due to his excellent work at the plant. The recent immigrants. Children of tradesmen who were sent to college.
The healthy and good-looking young girl, whose virtuous refusals of less-decent suggestions leads to a proposal. The woman who cares for the family members of the man - his parents, minor children, or disabled relatives - her tender attention to her patients/charges catches his attention, and leads to marriage.
This lead to increased fitness among offspring - what is called hybrid vigor. It widened the gene pool, and kept the culture of the leading classes from stultifying.
This seldom happens today. The upper classes generally mingle only with others at their SES level. Newer Americans (Mideast, Asian, Indian) mostly marry within their ancestral heritage groups (family pressure to do so is huge). After a while, the disconnect from average Americans becomes a chasm.
I'm the product of one of these cultural mixes. Mother was Irish/English Catholic, daughter of a man in the skilled trades, and homeowners in a stable neighborhood. Father was younger son from a widowed Appalachian family of strong Evangelical convictions, who quit school by 14 and ran with bootleggers until impending arrests led him to beat feet for Cleveland and stay with his older married sister. After meeting and marrying my mother, her family helped him attend college, eventually get training in technology, and retire as a junior engineer.
All of us attended college (I'm the only one with a 4 year degree - the 2 surviving sibs have Associate's level degrees), and worked for a living. It had been a point of pride for my father NOT to accept government charity, even if entitled. He had seen some of his relatives had sunk into that dependency position, which is difficult to escape. It's easier to Fall Down, than to Stay Upright.
Today's upper classes would often rather stay single than to marry someone of a lower class. With so many women being graduates of 4-year schools (or beyond) compared to men, the educational attainment imbalance makes spinsterhood the likely scenario for many. They may have children, but will not marry.
Raising children by yourself is a difficult job in ANY time. Prior generations had missing parents due to divorce (not that common at that time), death, and desertion - you might call them the 3 D's. Step-parenting isn't easy, either - particularly when one or more of the children is a teen/tween. At that age, they often drive their OWN parents nuts. Most people don't want to hear the phrase "You're not my Dad/Mom!" - even if true - whenever some disciplinary brakes on behavior are applied.
We aren't the only species that finds single parenthood hard. In many species, death or other loss of a pair-partner puts survival of the offspring in serious jeopardy. The prolonged dependency period of humans makes a two-parent household a virtual necessity.
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