As we learned from Skolnick's book and Rubin's research, family composition is influenced by many factors. Economy, culture, education, ethnicity/race, and tradition all contribute to the modern family. The last few decades have greatly influenced family structure, and while some seek to preserve the past, others embrace the future. In all of this, we find that you can have both. The first part of Rubin's book dealt with "invisible Americans." One of the most thought-provoking statements from the beginning states: “Indeed, one of the surprising findings of this study is how much in common all these families have, how much agreement they would find with each other – even regarding some of the hottest racial groups.” questions of the day: if they could put aside the stereotypes and hostilities that separate them and listen to each other talk. Because if we put race aside, there is much more that unites working-class families than there is that divides them.” (15) For me, this set the tone for the book. More than once, someone in this study who was of a different culture or race than me said something that I knew I had thought or even said before. I found this interesting because with some of them I thought I was the only one who felt this way; that it was a group-specific problem. Rubin's research shows that a lot can happen in a single generation. There has been a lot of talk lately about what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation”; those who fought in World War II. These Americans returned from war, started families, and worked hard to achieve “The All American Dream.” But somewhere they must have missed something because this generation is the generation that produced the “weed-smoking, free-loving hippies” who then produced the adults in Rubin's study. What has changed so much in a generation that was the epitome of hard work, discipline and structure? Stephanie Coontz's article, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s” addresses this topic. The world between 1920 and 1950 is not what we think. There was a high murder rate, a substantial divorce rate, and “an older generation of neighbors or relatives trying to tell them how to run their lives and raise their children.” (Skolnick 33) It is this feeling that their children see the world so differently that is so difficult for working class parents. “Because it seems to say that now, along with… half the paper… I really miss the 1950s” Family in transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003. 31-39Kamen, Paula. "Modern marriage: from meal voucher to best friend" Family in transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003 152-160 Laner, Mary Riege. Ventrone, Nicole A. “Dating Scripts Revisited” Family in Transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003. 143-151Newman, Katherine S. “Family Values ​​Against the Odds” Family in Transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003. 320-334Rubin, Lillian B. Families on the Fault Line, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1994Taylor, Ronald L. “Diversity Within African American Families” Family in transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003. 365-388Zinn, Maxine Baca. Well, Barbara. “Diversity within Latino Families: New Lessons for Family Social Science” Family in Transition.Ed. Arlene Skolnick and Jermone H. Skolnick: Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003. 389-414