Marriage In James Q Wilson's Cohabitation Of Marriage

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In “Cohabitation instead of Marriage” by James Q. Wilson, he believes that marriage is a necessity in today’s day of life, but you do not get this conclusion till completing the article. He states that marriage is built to maintain a family but we trust teachers to teach our children, daycare to care for them, and police officers to keep them safe and that, that does not leave left for the mother or the father to fo. He then proceeds to say that if the couple does not want children then there is nothing for the marriage to offer and to why not just live together, without the actual title of marred. Just live together with no legal formality and cohabitate. By this statement alone James Q Wilson makes you believe that he is pro-cohabitation …show more content…

Wilson makes strong points to show that marriage is good for human interaction, he fails to mention the aspects of marriage that take a toll on someone. He says that “our desire for sexual unions and romantic attachments is as old as humankind, and they will continue forever.”(431), but he does not state that marriage takes hard work and that it is not easy as pie.. The only negative point he focuses on is the financial aspect of marriage, when it is much more than that. When speaking about cohabitation, he states that it is merely a form of being single. He does not touch on the aspects of how it may progress to marriage; he simply says it will end within two years, again with no references to back this up. Wilsons attempts to convince the reader that marriage is the only way they will be able to stay in love because the incentive to stay together is much higher than living in cohabitation because you have invested that much more. He states that living in cohabitation “… I stop loving you; I walk away.” He continues saying that he fails to write about the house they could be renting, or even bought together and many other investments that people are living together purchase and pay for, even if it is …show more content…

He also should have added what the pros are of cohabitation, even if they do not agree with what he believes as he would have been able to turn it around ad say you can do this in cohabitation, but it can be better in marriage. He also fails to offer adverse aspects of marriage beyond the cost of divorce. Wilson not only attempts to confuse the reader off the get go but wants you to make the reader believe that marriage is the only option to truly be happy ad get the most out of

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