Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 22

Page 6, Section Three The Sunday Rutland Herald and The Sunday Times Argus October 12, 1980 Post-Industrial Family Tka a ok lank a ant a 15 krurfci fi ptanaf Aacncac Faailm a Tt la tka rack kauriaa Muua Caxady Harnkw ka a wmi a wtuct aaa a a art a ik aarm run affarts aw taalh Hr Tka aarm antwa Mr Caanakt Saw WP a lamawta Cxtaaaaa lancnap a CaWwaia Saa ISaga a fuaflae a fra frwa tka NaQaaal fakinaiw far CONSUMPTION CENTER The consequences are momentous In a service economy the family shifts more and more from a longterm production unit to a short run con sumption center Consumption and the consumer mentality become all important In stead of producing a major part of its own entertainment, the family voraciously consumes entertainment provided by the mass media -television movies, radio mass newspapers and popular magazines Much time is spent consuming sports events and popular music while Nielsen estimates that childneiw atch an average of almost 25 hours of television each eek Further ev idence of the consumption mentality is the American family's use of energy which is higher per household unit than anywhere else in the world The service economy feeds and reinforces the family as a consumption center and vice versa The supermarket is an institutionalized means of maximizing the food consumption of American families Conversely the need for gratification now promotes the proliferation of supermarkets fast food chains microwave ovens, frozen foods and instant coffee tea and soups The service economy also provides an apparatus of serv ice agents such as consumer representatives and environmental protection surveillants. who ostensibly protect the interests of the family The spectacular computer and electronics revolution advances the service economy and the family as a consumption center The rise of instant credit, instant foods, instant news, instant TV movies, places an inordinate emphasis on the family's need to consume rather than fo produce The Amencan family is. accordingly, more and more "now'' oriented with a deep need to find quick, present gratification This tendency is also promoted by the search for models in the present rather than in past time In earlier periods children could emulate their parents or grandparents as models In time Today, they increasingly find their models among ideals" who are present idols rock stars, pop artists, current movie stars, pen pals, environmentalists, and ephemeral gurus Finally the expansion of a serv ice economy makes possible an enormous new flood of women into the independent labor force The husband and wife who both have separate jobs, divorced women and widows working to support the family are now familiar on the American familv and work scene URBANIZATION The American family has also been transformed by urbanization The rural landscape dominated Amencan life until the late 19th century but in dustnalization led to the dominance of the city and urban life Since the 1950s, the expansion of metropolitan space in the form of the suburbs has been distinctive Although there is some movement back to rural areas it is estimated that by 1990 90 percent of Amencans will be living either urban or suburban arras The city and urban transportation systems have vastly increased mobility among family members The father and mother may travel mles to their respective jobs Children may travel long distances to school entertainment or friends Different activities at different times among the various members of the family result in fewer opportunities for common meals, common sharing and participation Moreover the children increasingly move to other urban or suburban areas after college and employment further loosening family ties Other things being equal, urbanization is in conflict with primary family loyalties and ties of kinship Urbanization tends to promote secondary or societal contacts, for example, jobs, associations, and clubs, rather than primary loyalties such as familv or old-fashioned neighborhoods LOSS OF FUNCTIONS In the industrial and post industrial phases of American society numerous functions earlier assumed by the family-have been absorbed by a variety of institutions The pre-industrial family frequently had important educational functions especially for girls These have been increasingly absorbed by the schools, which provide primary skills reading, writing, and arithmetic but also vocational education, education in the arts, sex education, and an increasing responsibility for the socialization of the child Similarly, religious functions earlier provided by the family have been taken over by the organized churches, which By MILTON COVENSKY We are in the midst of a (treat tran sition This shift from an industrial society to a post industrial society has variously been called the second in dustnal revolution the cybernetic revolution the computer revolution, or the information revolution Like the 19th-century industrial revolution that transformed the western world from an agricultural to an industrial society this 20th century transition has had profound con sequences for the family The family has increasingly become a center of consumption rather than of production, and it has been weakened as an institution in the process Prior to the first industrial revolution, most of the labor force the United States was engaged in agriculture A majority of family heads were farmers, and the family unit was oriented around agricultural produc tion In the first half of the 20th century, with the triumph of industrial Amehca. the industrial labor force exceeded the agricultural In the second half of the 20th century a further remarkable change has ensued Only about 4 percent of the labor force is today engaged in agriculture Even more startling, most of the labor force is no longer employed in heavy industry, such as automobile and steel production Instead, the majority of workers are in service sectors, wueh as government, hospital, banking, education, and mass communication also encroach on recreational and counseling services, once the province of the family In addition, economic functions of the early American family have been taken over by a host of other institutions For example, factories and machine production have displaced domestic production and relative self-sufficiency The consumption sectors described above are another example The net result is that the wide spectrum of functions once exercised by the early American family has been narrowed down to an extraordinary degree, leaving the family mainly to fulfill emotional and psychological needs The increasing secularization of modern life in industrial and post-industrial society poses a major threat to the contemporary family. It promotes both a loss of the sacred in the world and a loss of authority and authority figures In a sacred world there are holy spaces, times, events, and persons that are inviolable and relatively immune from attack In contemporary society it is becoming ever more difficult to find areas of the sacred Marriage is no longer a sacred institution.

Parents are decreasingly sacred figures to their children The home is increasingly subject to terror, crime, and domestic disruption Even the inviolability of the individual person as a human being with moral rights is under serious threat. Meanwhile, authority figures the police and military, teachers, and parents are suffering a serious loss of their authority, both in image and in substance A paramount problem for contemporary society is thus to provide a sense of authority and the sacredness of institutions, such as the family. This may need to be accomplished either within a religious framework, a humanistic framework that emphasizes the dignity and worth of all human beings, or both Weddings and Engagements Larson-Wilder Robbins-Riddell Wedding W1LUAMSTOWN Susan Riddell, daughter of Mr and Mrs. Carl Riddell of South Hill, Wtlliamstown, and Kenneth Robbins, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Robbins of Fish Hill Road, Randolph, were married in an outdoor setting at the bride's home Aug. 30 The double-ring ceremony was performed by the Rev.

Dr. David Wolfe of Tunbridge The bride was given in marriage by her parents She wore a gown of polyester and lace made by her oldest sister In her hair, she wore a ring of daisies and carried a bouquet of yellow and white daisies and yellow roses Cindy Riddell, the bride's youngest sister, was maid of honor She wore a gown of cotton print, also made by her sister, and carried a bouquet of yellow and white daisies The bridesmaids were Carolyn Peake and Betsy Persons, sisters of the bride, Kathy Robbins, sister of the bridegroom, and Debbie Sumner They wore gowns of cotton print and carried long-stemmed yellow and white daisies Helize Prive was flower girl Her gown was light blue-dotted swiss She carried a basket of yellow and white daisies The best man was Joel Hannah of Randolph. Ushers were Bob Robbins, brother of the bridegroom. Mark Miller, Jim Sault and BenSault. Hoyt Prive was the ring bearer A reception followed at the Chelsea home of Dr.

and Mrs. David Jaffe Mrs. Robbins is a 1978 graduate of Williamstown High School, and works with ber parents on their farm Her husband is a 1976 graduate of Randolph Union High School and is employed at GW Tool Divirion in Randolph The couple will live in Brookfield. ROCKY HILL. Conn.

Diane G. Wilder of Rocky Hill, daughter of Mr and Mrs Winthrop Wilder of Rutland, and Richard S. Larson of Rocky Hill, son of Mr and Mrs Charles R. Larson of Sioux Falls, S.D., were married Oct. 4 in the United Methodist Church in Rocky Hill The Rev Frederick Jones officiated at the double-ring ceremony.

Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore a Victorian style gown of ivory cotton and lace The skirt was hand-embroidered with fall colored flowers by the bride. She carried a bouquet of red. yellow and peach roses, babys breath, stephanotts and English ivy. Her headpiece was a wreath of roses and baby 's breath matching her bouquet Gloria Stewart was matron of honor Olga Fagan was bridesmaids The attendants wore brown calico cotton dresses trimmed with ivory lace collars and wooden buttons They carried bouquets of stephanotis. peach and yellow roses accented with spider plant leaves and English Ivy.

William Larson was best man for his brother, Royed Hollick, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, served as usher A reception was held at the Gelston House in East Haddam. Conn Barbara Mitchell was in charge of the guest book The bride, a graduate of Rutland High School and Central Connecticut State College, is senior forms analyst at Aetna Life Casualty in Hartford, Conn The bridegroom is a graduate of Sioux Falls High School and Brown University. He is doing graduate work in business administration at the University of Connecticut He is employed as a physicist by Pratt Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford, Conn Following a wedding trip to Bermuda, the couple will live in West Hartford, Conn. Dr. and Mrs.

Larry Levin Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Rhodes III Levin-Harmon RUTLAND Patricia A. Harmon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.

Richard S. Harmon of Rutland, and Dr Larry Levin of Greenville, R.I., son of Dr and Mrs. Milton Levin of Providence, R.I., were married Aug 24 in a double-ring ceremony held at Beth El Temple in Providence. Given in marriage by her parents, the bride wore a street-length gown of champagne crepe accented with a beaded bodice. She carried a bouquet of pink rosebuds with orchids.

A wedding dinner was held at Benjamin's in Taunton, following the ceremony The bride, a 1970 graduate of Mount St Joseph Academy, received a bachelor of science degree in retailing in 1974 from the University of Vermont She is employed in management by The Limited in Boston. The bridegroom graduated in 1970 from Providence High School, in 1974 from the University of Vermont College of Medicine and in 1977 from Tufts University School of Dentistry in Boston He has a private practice in Providence. Following a 10-day cruise from Boston to Prince Edward Island. Nova Scotia. Quebec City and Montreal, the couple is living in Greenville Rachiski-Hart Wedding IRVINGTON, Y.

Deborah Elizabeth Hart and Walter Rachiski III were married Sept 6 in the Irvington Presbyterian Church. The bride is daughter of Mr. and Mrs Stephen H. Hart Jr. of Irvington, and her husband is son of Mr.

and Mrs. Walter Rachiski Jr. of Springfield. Vt. The Rev Dr Frederick Jenkins performed the double-ring ceremony with Mrs Jenkins as organist and Mrs Richard Prior as soloist The bride, escorted by her father, wore a white gown embroidered with Venise laces and pointe-d'esprit with a chapel-length train Her headpiece was a Juliet cap of lace and seeded pearls.

She carried a Spanish fan adorned with white silk flowers, including roses, lilies and forget-me-nots, with baby's breath. The maid of honor was Nancy Alison Hart, sister of the bride. She wore a mocha rose gown and carried a nosegay of pink and white silk flowers The bridesmaids were Sharon Lynn Hart and Debra Anne Rachiski. sisters of the couple They wore matching gowns of Daphne rose and carried nosegays like that the maid of boom. David Seward was best man.

The ushers were Donald Young and Stephen Hart III Mrs. Rachiski graduated from Irvington High School and Castleton (Vt.) State College Until her marriage, she was employed at Max on Corp. in Irvington Her husband graduated from Springfield High School and Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center He is employed at Factory Mutual Engineering and Research Corp Norwood. Mass Following the wedding, a champagne reception eras held at the Dobbs Ferry Women's Club Friends and relatives attended from Vermont New Hampshire. Massachusetts, Connecticut Pennsylvania and New York After a two-week honeymoon Spain and Portugual the couple will live in East Mansfield, Mass Rhodes Walmsley RUTLAND Denise Michelle Walmsley.

daughter of Mr and Mrs. George Walmsley of Greenlawn. and Stanley Fisher Rhodes III, son of Mr and Mrs. Stanley Rhodes Jr of Rutland Town, were united in marriage Sept. 13 in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Monsignor John Lynch officiated at the double-ring ceremony Heather Arnold was soloist.

The bride, given in marriage by her parents, wore a floor-length gown of white chiffon fashioned with a high neckline with a silk illusion insert The bodice was adorned with Alencon lace and seed pearls The bishop sleeves ended in deep cuffs with appliques of lace. The empire waist flowed into a full skirt with chapel train Her matching, walking length, mantilla was edged in lace She carried wine colored roses, carnations and baby's breath. Mary Barber was maid of honor She wore a Victorian gown in dusty rose and ivory lace Bridesmaids were Sheila Walmsley, Beverly Rhodes and Lori Kelly. They wore identical gowns in burgundy Each attendant carried a long-stemmed rose accented with baby's breath and ribbon James Bilodeau was best man. The ushers were Christopher Rhodes.

Scott Walmsley and Andrew Matron A reception was held at the Pico Base Lodge The guest book was circulated by Betsy Sone. Johnny Girovard provided music The bride is a 1978 graduate of Rutland High School and a 1960 graduate of Green Mountain College She will be employed at the Proctor Trust Co Her husband, a 1976 graduate of Mount St. Joseph Academy, is employed by Munger Construction Following a wedding trip, the couple will live at 1 Chasana Drive in Rutland Town CONWAY -TREPANIER RUTLAND Shirley Conway and Francis Camay Sr. of Rutland announce the engagement of their daughter, Brenda Mae, to William Joseph Trepanier an of Mr. and Mrs.

William J. Trepanier of West Rutland. An October wedding is planned. Mrs. Richard Larson.