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Are Families Dangerous?

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Are Families Dangerous?
Are Families Dangerous?
Barbara Ehrenreich
The family is the first institution of the five basic social institutions. It is responsible for developing the behavior of each person to be interactive individuals in society. It is responsible for supplying the basic needs of each person during their development. Unfortunately, the image of family has been deteriorated considerably. Instead of being a system support for people, it has become a double edged sword. Society is at fault for how bad the concept of family is today. It is just takes watching the news on television or to reading the newspaper to realize this. We can see headlines like "Father abused his daughter", “Woman is victim of domestic violence", "Child suicide due to family problems", among others. These are the many of the issues that top the news. For the journalist and social critic, Barbara Ehrenreich, families are dangerous. In her essay "Are Families Dangerous?” the author cites several cases and news about families to validate her thesis. I agree with what she establishes in her essay.
Ehrenreich begins her essay talking about the Menendez brothers' case, in which the brothers killed their parents. Then, she lists more examples, like the famous case of former football player OJ Simpson. She says that family, instead of being a source of protection and love is a dysfunctional place. She also talks about the pro-family campaigns that politicians support. There are millions of people who claim to be pro-family but there are also a millions of people who attend family therapy to deal with their childhood traumas mostly created by their own families. She also, talks about the tradition of thinking about the “anti-family” and she explains the meaning of this term with examples. She mentions that for a family to be dangerous it does not necessarily mean that physical or verbal abuse exists. Other attitudes like disinterest, unconcern and even culture can influence in making a

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