I suspect that "the family" long ago became an outmoded and often discarded entity in America.
I
became aware of this while watching a group of Mexican workers in a
restaurant who were working incredibly hard. I never saw such intense
or determined work anywhere in Mexico.
Then I remembered that
"Go West young man" was the plea for Americans to leave their stifling
East Coast and Mid-Western family and social class structures and create a new life on
the vast frontier. America may just be "the new West" for Mexicans
escaping the stifling family and social class structures of Mexico. As
it has always been for new immigrants. In America they can work hard
and create their own new life (for Mexicans it comes with a new
evangelical religion too.)
On a related subject, if I
were to guess, I would guess that half of all American families are
dysfunctional, meaning that many family members, siblings, parents and
generations don't "get along" at all. That also means that half of
American families are functional. Great! The definition of "family"
in America has always applied to a small band of people that rarely
extends to cousins or across marital family lines. Functional families
probably work because they are tolerant and supportive of
differences...a very good quality in a commercial society.
I
suspect that the weakness of families, or the absence of family in
America is a source of vitality for commerce, too.
Families are good for commerce and non-families are also good.
Non-families are beneficial for commerce because it means that people
often create their own identity by being 'consumers'. It means that
people can set their own goals and values that in turn can mean hard
work and increased productivity. It means people can seek identity
with fellow workers and peers.
It also means that many people have to be active in the work force to provide their own security emotional and financial.
Put
all together, families that are functional are generally small and
probably functional because of tolerance for difference: good for commerce. Families
that aren't functional spin off a large proportion of self-creating
productive members of a commercial society. Also good for commerce.
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