Causes of Divorce in American Society

In 2002, there was a whopping 955,000 divorces recorded across the nation. Compared to the total in 1950, 385,000, there is no doubt that the divorce rate in American society is only becoming more prevalent. Of course, there are hundreds of reasons for why couples choose divorce, but a large majority of them can be chalked up to major societal changes in the last 100 to fifty years. The research in this paper will examine key transformations in the American way of life that directly affect marriage. For example, liberal divorce laws, economic factors, women’s independence, and religious factors. What makes marriage so vulnerable to these factors is that the changes have been so diverse that it is nearly inevitable that a couple will face at least one of these issues. What’s more is that these aspects of life can impact marriage independently, but they often coincide with one another. There is no one reason to liable for unsuccessful marriages, but rather it is a multifaceted web of various reasons. Although some of these changes in American society have been seen as progress for the nation overall, they can create a complex “snowball effect” in the world of happily ever after.

Possibly the most notable societal change in the last century would be the independence of women. Although this is undoubtedly a positive change overall, it has indeed taken its toll on marriage. Women’s increased role in the workforce has made traditional family life difficult to say the least. The most obvious impact this has on family life is that women no longer stay at home cooking, cleaning and living for their husbands and children. One issue this creates is that

women no longer depend on their husband for a living. It is entirely possible for a ...

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