Abstract:

The relation between social developments and family pattern changes has always been a focal area in American sociology. This paper reviews the structuralfunctionalist construction of the ideal type of modern family and its impact on American family studies. It also analyzes the cuttingedge empirical family studies on family pattern changes in the United States during the postmodern era since the 1990s， including divorce， singleparent families， cohabitation， and samesex marriages. Empirical findings indicate that the ideal modern family pattern has lost its dominance in today’s American society， and that the basis of modern marriage and the family institution as well， has been challenged. Feminists have proposed the new concept of “postmodern family”； social scholars have also taken theoretical approaches to address the direction of family changes in this era. The empirical studies and theoretical discussion of the changes in the American family pattern are of great referential value to the study of marriage and family changes in China during this era of globalization.

Key words: modern family, family change, postmodern family, family pattern