The Theme of Race, Ethnicity, and Families in Cohen's Book

In Cohen’s, The Family: Diversity, Inequality, and Social Change discusses family and family life. In chapter 3, Cohen focuses on the impact of race and ethnicity on families and family life. As well as the influx of immigration, diversifying the different types of American families. The modern day American family defines itself not only through the racial and ethnic communities it identifies with, but also through their social and economic environments. However it is among these various American families that strong family relations prove to be beneficial to their struggles. The importance of family exists in different forms between populations and has been reinforced by institutional and immigration burdens. Race and ethnicity are often terms that are used colloquially and interchangeably in today’s society.

However despite the these two terms undeniable similarities, they in fact do not harbor the exact same definition. Cohen (2015) defines race as, “a group of people believed to share common descent, based on perceived innate physical similarities.” While Cohen (2015) defines ethnicity as, “a group of people with a common cultural identification, based on a combination of language, religion, ancestral origin, or traditional practices.” Race is a social construct of perception created by humans to identify humans using biological characteristics. While ethnicity is a social construct of identification created by humans to identify themselves using aspects of that individual’s life. Ethnicity is also not stagnant. It can change due to the ever evolving aspects of the individual’s life. As a Chinese adoptee I like to see myself as a good example of race versus ethnicity. I am racially Chinese, since I have biological characteristics linking me to Chinese descent. However ethnically, I identify as American due to my spoken language, religion, and practices.In the 20th century the US has experienced an influx of immigration, diversifying the racial and ethnic populations residing here. Cohen (2015) specifically notes the recent influx of the Latino and Asian populations.

The growth of these populations can be attributed to increased immigration and, for Latinos, the increased birth-rate from Latina women. Additionally the increase of intermarriages and the increase of community isolations have drawn US diversity to opposite ends of the spectrum. With increased intermarriages, diversity has increased with more cultures intermingling and evolving the melting pot of cultures. While increased community isolation, diversity has decreased with more immigrants deciding remain in their own communities.African American families in the US have struggled with racial inequality from the institution of slavery, after the abolition of slavery, all the way up to the present and have still not been able to recover. The institutional racism and discrimination against the Black population has increased their economic and social disparities. Cohen (2015) discusses that due to these disparities the Black population experiences increased poverty rates and increased socio economic obstacles for men. He identifies these obstacles as higher unemployment rates, higher incarceration rates, and higher mortality rates. Which in turn, he connects to the decreased availability of marriage worthy Black men, difficulties in maintaining a marriage, and thus an increase of single Black mothers. Extended households were needed in order to ease the burdens of Black families. Cohen (2015) expands on this point with, “Black grandparents are more likely to live with their grandchildren than are the grandparents of any other racial-ethnic group. Such as extended households are historical continuation of Black family resilience, easing the burdens of racial inequality by pooling social, economic, and emotional resources.” The importance of family plays a large role in Latino culture. This importance on family relations is referred to as Familism.

Cohen (2015) defines Familism as, “a personal outlook that puts family obligations first, before individual well-being.” Today a large portion of the Latino populations immigrated or had family immigrate to America. For Latinos in America Familism was reinforced by the struggles of immigration. From socio economic struggles, that were directly related to immigration, stimulated Latinos Familism and strengthened it. When Latino families immigrated to America and encountered these struggles other Latino families were there to help. From this came a strong Latino community and strong extended family networks. Supporting evidence of this claim can be found in Cohen’s (2015) statement, “if poverty and hardship drive families together for support, strong intergenerational ties among Latinos are probably as much as a response to such challenges as they are a reflection of cultural and tradition.”Similar to Black families, extended households aid in social, economic, and emotional resources, such as in strong community, childcare, and additional income. However if the extended family is also struggling economically, it can pose as an economic burden rather than an aid.The modern American family has experienced a shift in the 20th century relating to racial and ethnic backgrounds, increased immigration, and socio economic burdens. However through all the struggles family has eased them. The importance of family has aided the Black and Latino populations through inequalities and has in fact been strengthened from those inequalities. It is from this that shows that even institutional and immigration burdens can be eased by family.