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Importance of marriage, essay
The importance of marriage
Importance of marriage, essay
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Abstract
The marriage revolution has been a controversial issue since the dawn of time, and all that are and have been involved with “matrimony” are aware of the issues of the future. There can be no denying that the culture of marriage has changed. This very course is itself a great example of this fact. Much like any other sociological subject of any real concern, there are many “opinions” related to this issue. This paper will attempt to highlight marriage seen as the sociological transformation, marital erosion versus evolution, and why many people fail at marriage and what does it take to be successful in greater detail. This will allow you, the readers, to make up your own minds regarding this extremely multifaceted issue.
Marriage seen as the sociological transformation
“Couples today have much higher expectations. Between the 1950s and the 1970s American attitudes toward marriage changed dramatically as part of what has been called the “psychological revolution”—a transformation in the way people look at marriage, parenthood, and their lives in general.” (Skolnick p.171) At first blush, marriage in America seems to have followed a similar course. Once a required rite of passage, seen as a genuine embodiment of shared values, it now serves as a game-show prize on Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire or a booby prize on My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé — even though wedding ceremonies have created a "bridal-industrial complex," as Lee professor of economics Claudia Goldin calls the nearly $100-billion-a-year U.S. industry that outpaces even the movie business ($45 billion a year, including sales and rentals). (Hodder, 2004) Motivated by celebrity magazines and wedding planners, couples take on increasingly elaborate spectacles that take years to plan and cost on average $20,000 to produce.
When Love Story first appeared, our society was still extremely absorbed in a marriage culture that encouraged and supported getting and staying married. But inside a few years, the women's movement, the pill, the sexual revolution, and various economic shifts had permanently transformed that marriage-centric society. Marriage is not an endangered species, but it is surrounded by enormous difficulties that were not readily apparent 35 or 40 years ago. Divorce is a very serious presence — over 50 percent of our marriages end in di...
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...;what has been will still be." Stay open to newness. Stay open to change.” (Nutt, 1990)
References:
Catholic Answers Inc. (2004). Special Report: Marriage. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from the
World Wide Web: http://www.catholic.com/library
Gallagher, Maggie. (2002, July 13). How We Destroy Lasting Love. The Abolition of Marriage.
Retrieved April 8, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9608/reviews/gold.html Hodder, Fraser H. (2004, Nov-Dec). The Future of Marriage. Harvard Magazine Volume 107,
Number 2, Page 38. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.hmag.harvard.edu/on-line/110491.html Grady Nutt. (July, 1990) Higher Praise. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.praiselyrics.com/illustrations/marriage.htm Ross, Catherine E., Mirowsky, John & Goldsteen Karen. (1990). The Impact of the Family on
Health. Journal of Marriage and the Family. Retrieved April 8, 2005 from the World Wide
Web:
Skolnick, Arlene S. & Skolnick Jerome H. (2005). Family in Transition. Boston: Pearson A&B.
Waite, Linda & Gallagher, Maggie. (2001). The Case for Marriage. New York: Doubleday
Human beings are not isolated individuals. We do not wander through a landscape of trees and dunes alone, reveling in our own thoughts. Rather, we need relationships with other human beings to give us a sense of support and guidance. We are social beings, who need talk and company almost as much as we need food and sleep. We need others so much, that we have developed a custom that will insure company: marriage. Marriage assures each of us of company and association, even if it is not always positive and helpful. Unfortunately, the great majority of marriages are not paragons of support. Instead, they hold danger and barbs for both members. Only the best marriages improve both partners. So when we look at all three of Janie’s marriages, only her marriage to Teacake shows the support, guidance, and love.
DeVault, C., Cohen, T., & Strong, B. (2011). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in a changing society. (11th ed., pgs. 400-426). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth cengage learning.
Marriage is the legal or formally recognized union of a man and a woman, or two people or the same sex as partners in a relationship. Marriage rates in the United States have changed drastically since the last 90’s and early 2000 years (Cherlin 2004). Marital decline perspective and marital resilience perspective are the two primary perspectives and which we believe are the results from the decline. The marital decline perspective is the view that the American culture has become increasingly individualistic and preoccupied with personal happiness (Amato, 2004). The change in attitudes has changed the meaning of marriage as a whole, from a formal institution
For Centuries in our society marriage between man and woman has been a practiced cultural right and custom. Over 90% of Americans will marry in their lifetime and roughly 50% of those marriages will result in Divorce. Many Sociological factors contribute to the high divorce rate expressed in our culture. Reasons that contribute to the divorce rate are longer life expectancy, women in the work force, birth control, social acceptance of cohabitation, single parenting and welfare reform. It is also now socially acceptable and legal to get a divorce due to dissatisfaction and unhappiness. This social acceptance of divorce implies that today there is a changing criteria when entering marriage. Couples today now insist on the element of personal fulfillment and happiness for entering wedlock, where as, in times past this was not one of the main considerations for man and woman to get married.
The culture that exists in America is one that is constantly changing to suit the times and the many different types of people that reside in the country. One aspect of American culture that has changed profoundly is the institution of marriage. Marriage began as the undisputed lifestyle for couples willing to make the ultimate commitment to one another. However in less than a century, pointless and destructive alternatives such as premarital cohabitation, have developed to replace marriage.
In this study, researchers wanted to know young adults’ views of marriage in the United States. In order to do so, they asked simple questions about marriage and commitment to 424 people ages 21 to 38 from various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The results showed that there are two major types of marital constructs, and two major arguments in the debate of marriage’s current state. The two categories of people who think of marriage are called the marriage naturalists and the marriage planners. Both groups of people have nearly opposite views on the idea of what is needed to be able to have a good, healthy marriage. The major arguments about the current state of marriage in the U.S are the marriage decline and the marriage resilience perspectives. These are also polarized, naturally.
There are movies, books, songs, poems, and even a holiday devoted to love. However, the concept of love that seems to be greatly glorified by our own society is also heavily binded by expectations that come from ignorance or beliefs. These restrictions are mirrored by the restriction that marriage seems to face due to the heavily embedded notion that marriage is the prioritized outcome of love. However, as many authors such as Meghan O’Rourke bring up, marriage seems to have grown old and might need to be renewed or replaced in some way. (O’Rourke, 2013) Some of the suggestions that are brought up in O’Rourke’s review, “The Marriage Trap,” seem to be a bit radical, but these suggestions are not to be ignored. While a new standard would be hard to implement completely, the concept of a more liberal form of marriage that removed the restrictions from its infrastructure would provide a less oppressive environment in the world that would let love more openly thrive. The failings of love as a whole are heavily connected with the failings of marriage in our society, and we should to be more honest about these failings because it would reveal the disconnect that love and marriage have always had between them and could allow for changes that would allow society to remove the roots of misogyny and discrimination while allowing true love to
Marriage and divorce are culturally ruled, as I have noted from my interviews with friends and family of different cultures who have married, perhaps some have divorced, and with each experience in love they have culturally accepted values that pertain to their overall ideals and values on love, marriage, shared values, etc. The purpose of this paper is to establish a clear understanding of human nature as it relates to the portrait of adulthood and mate selection; institution of marriage, procreation, and even divorce as it relates to acceptance of failed expectations and moving on. I was not surprised to learn that the people I interviewed were traditional in their beliefs that marriage is a serious commitment that should be respected and approached for longevity.
Every year approximately 2.4 million marriages occur.Out of those,2.1 millionwill file for divorce in the United States. These marriage and divorce rates have significantly increased since the years past(Coltrane and Adams, 364).According to Schoen, in the 1950’s, 15 out of 1,000 marriages ended in divorce.In the 1970’s, the rates of divorcedoubled,increasing to 40 per 1,000 marriages. Currently, the rate of marriages resulting in divorce remains the same. Most marriages are ending within seven years ofthemarriage for multiple different reasons. Sociologists haveestablisheddivorce as a social problem from the rise in divorcerates due to the early year of marriages (2006).
Marriage is a commitment that seems to be getting harder to keep. The social standards placed on an individual by society and influenced by the media inevitably lead some to consider divorce as a “quick-fix” option. “Have it your way” has become a motto in the United States. It has become a country without any consideration of the psychological effects of marriage and divorce. The overwhelmingly high divorce rate is caused by a lack of moral beliefs and marital expectations.
Throughout the last half of the century, our society has watched the divorce rate of married couples skyrocket to numbers previously not seen. Although their has been a slight decline in divorce rates, “half of first marriages still were expected to dissolve before death.” (Stacy, 15, 1991) Whatever happened to that meaningful exchange of words, “until death do us part,” uttered by the bride and groom to each other on their wedding day? What could have been the cause of such inflated divorce rates? Perhaps young married couples are not mature enough to be engaged in such a trremendous responsibility, or, maybe, the couples really do not know each other as well as they thought. Possibly, they have been blinded by infatuation rather than by true love, or, quite simply, the couples mistakenly have different relational expectations.
Do we still consider Marriage and Love a meaningful tradition? Some people would say there’s more divorce going around the world then people actually getting marry, but there’s two points of views presented in “Modern Family” by Mona Charen and in “Marriage and Love” by Emma Goldman. One issue is traditional family is dead. Another issue is the cost of getting divorce.
...eing married, Marriage used to really be something that lasted until you died however, now marriage aren’t a lifetime commitment. Finally the other reason Stanton says that marriage is deteriorating is because it has become re-definable. He means that marriage used to always be between and male and a female but now society is pushing for same gender marriages to be recognized. These changes certainly have an impact on the way our society treats the sacred union of marriage. Regardless of what marriage has become the research definitely shows an evolution of the term marriage.
“Marriage is not a noun; it’s a verb. It isn’t something you get. It’s something you do. It’s the way you love your partner every day”, states Barbara De Angelis. Unfortunately, love is not always the main reason for weddings today. Wedding ceremonies have turned into who can have the biggest and best wedding. Today’s weddings place more emphasis on the dress or dresses, the food, the venue, and the decorations instead of the meaning of the ceremony. Therefore, some weddings can cost more than buying a house. Media and television shows have a big impact on the amount of money spent on modern day weddings. There are television programs that promote competition between couples to see who has the best wedding. The values of a wedding ceremony are beginning to change from being thankful for what you have to pure greed and showmanship. This is due in part to advancements in social media. Traditionally, children have learned values or morals from their parents, teachers, or religious/spiritual leaders. So, values have always been passed down through the generations in order to continue family traditions, etc. However, social media now plays a very large role in teaching values to children. Children are being influenced more by television shows, commercial, and movies than by prominent figures in their lives. One
The controversy over marriage today is much more observable than almost a century ago in the 1920s. Not only are divorce rates at 40% for young adult women (Shiono 20), but initial marri...