Science/Technology on the Modern Era Family Structures Essay

Science/Technology on the Modern Era

Family structures and social relationships in North America have undergone significant changes in the modern era, largely because of scientific/technological advancements. Such advancements have propelled the Women's Movement, caused a transformation of youth culture, and altered dating habits. This paper explores the positive and negative impacts of scientific/technological advancements in North America, how such advancements influenced the Women's Movement, and how the Women's Movement has impacted family structures.

Positives and Negatives

In the field of information and communication technology (ICT) alone, vast advancements are seen to have had positive and negative effects on North America.

The positive effects range from time saving devices that allow users to transmit information to anywhere from anywhere with an efficiency heretofore unthinkable. "Compared to sending letters, email is cheaper and faster" (Thunder02, 2009), while information sharing has essentially effected borderless communication. Advancements in ICT have also allowed for the possibility of a paperless society, which is viewed in a very positive light by environmentalists.

However, the negative effects of ICT advancements may outweigh the positive. Many of the negative effects of ICT have to do with social relationships. For example, Instant Messaging on the Internet has displaced one-on-one conversations in real-life. Online communication is "safer" and "easier," but it also redefines the meaning of social interaction -- in effect by limiting one's social life to a chair, a desk and a desktop computer. Eye strain, back strain and stress have also been associated with excessive computer use. Fraud, identity theft, and the virtually unlimited access to pornography are also negative effects of ICT advancements (Thunder02, 2009).

Science and the Women's Movement

Scientific advancements have also helped fuel the Women's Movement. For example, advancements in birth control helped popularize contraception, which was one of the issues promoted by leading Feminist Betty Friedan.Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique in the 1960s effected tremendous sway on North Americans, from housewives to lawmakers. Concerns about reproduction and health safety, spurred the scientific community to approach abortion as an alternative for pregnant women. Within the decade of abortion's legalization, cells of tissue from an aborted fetus were being used in scientific experiments such as those of Dr. Basu at Notre Dame University in the 1970s. Science was everywhere, altering everything. And women were feeling the effect (Jones, 2009).

Because the idea of Femininity was changing, and also the sexual mores, women were seen as freer to do what they wanted. They could go to college to finish an education, they could have sex "without consequence," and -- important to Friedan -- they could leave the kitchen. Women's equality built on the shoulders of women's suffrage, and soon women were competing with men for jobs in the market place.

According to Katherine Bennhold (2009), "Last year, three women received Nobel prizes in the sciences, a record for any year. Women now earn 42% of the science degrees in the 30 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; in the life sciences, such as biology and medicine, more than 6 out of 10 graduates are women." If science has helped alter the course of women's lives, women are now helping to alter the course of science.

However, the Women's Movement has been more than just about science -- it has also been about numerous social issues.

Social welfare legislation has been advocated since the 1970s by women's rights groups. Such legislation has allowed for women to….....