In A Raisin in the Sun, one of the major key points is the importance of family. Even with all the difficulties that ensue, characters learn to work together, get past differences, and truly appreciate each other. Examples are when: "There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and for the family cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and make things easy for everybody?" -Mama
The nuclear family of the ’50s epitomized the economically stable family unit. The idea of the middle-class, child-centered families that were “headed by wage-earning husbands became the ideal, although making that family model the norm for most Americans took decades and (even) then was short-lived.” This is why the modern family, in most cases, bears little resemblance to this “ideal” unit.
Many of the changes that were part of this transition are a direct result of the expanding role of women in society, both in terms of the workplace and education. The rise of the post-industrial economy, based in information and services, led to more married women entering the workplace. As early as 1960, around a third of middle class women were working either part- or full-time jobs. Since the ’60s, families have also become “smaller, less stable and more diverse.” More adults, whether young or elderly, live outside of the family as well. Today, the male-breadwinner, female-housewife family represents only a small percentage of American households. A considerable majority of Americans (62 percent) view the idea of marriage as “one in which husband and wife both work and share child care and household duties.” Two-earner families are much more common as well. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that women made up almost 50 percent of the paid labor force, putting them on equal footing with men when it comes to working outside the home. In addition, single-parent families headed by mothers, families formed through remarriage, and empty-nest families have all become part of the norm.
Not only are women having fewer children today, but they are having them under different circumstances than in the past. While at one time virtually all births occurred within marriage, these two life events are now far less intertwined. And while people were much more likely to “mate for life” in the past, today a sizable share have children with more than one partner – sometimes within marriage, and sometimes outside of it.

"It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in himself because the world done whipped him so!" -Mama to Beneatha
Mama places family above her dreams and tries the best to keep the family intact. When Beneatha rejects her brother, mama tells her that love is needed the most at the lowest point in life. Her absolute trust and love of family is what kept the home strong all these years.

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