Summary Of Love And Marriage: Through The Lens Of Sociological Theories

Marriage and family is one of the most interesting and relevant topics that we have covered in sociology so far. Our class discussions were eye-opening, as I now realize the impact my family has on me. We learn our gender roles and how to generally act in society because of our family, which may be positive or negative. We also begin to realize the differences in other family households, which may lead to stereotyping.

In Andrew J. Cherlin’s essay “American Marriage In Transition”, he discusses how marriage in America is evolving from the universal marriage. Cherlin’s definition of the universal marriage in his essay is the man is the breadwinner of the household and the woman is the homemaker. In the 20th century according to Cherlin, the meaning of marriage has been altered such as the changing division of labor, childbearing outside of marriage, cohabitation, gay marriage and the result of long- term cultural and material trends (1154). During the first transition of marriage, Cherlin discusses how in America, Europe, and Canada the only socially accepted way to have sexual relations with a person and to have children is to be married (1154). The second change in marriage occurred in 2000, where the median age of marriage in the United States for men is 27 and women is 25 (1155). Many young adults stayed single during this time and focused on their education and starting their careers. During the second change, the role of law increasingly changed, especially in the role of law in divorce (1155). It is proven in today’s research marriage has a different definition than what it did back in the 1950’s. Today marriage can be defined as getting married to the same gender or getting remarried to someone who already has kids. The roles in a marriage are evolving to be a little more flexible and negotiable. However, women still do a lot of the basic household chores and taking care of the

In the play Tartuffe, Molière portrays marriage in a unique way. He expresses a different perspective on marriage that most people would disagree with. In the play, marriage never seems to base around love but rather seems to be a very serious part of their life. Mariane submits to her father because during this time period the father was able to choose whom his daughter would marry. This submission is not based on love but rather who her father enjoys the best. It puts a great deal of pressure on the father to make the right decision. Marriage to Tartuffe would have caused Mariane a lifetime of discontent and it would have also associated the

Katha Pollitt’s, “What’s Wrong with Gay Marriage,” is an article about why Gay Marriage should be accepted without question. Pollitt views what “social conservatives” (530) have to say about marriage, and how their belief that marriage is all about procreation isn’t persuasive to those outside of the “right-wing think tank, Catholic marriage tribunal, or ultra-Orthodox rabbi court.” (Pollitt 530). Pollitt tells her readers to scratch procreation and then examines the theory that, “marriage is the way women domesticate men.” Continuing with well known right-winger George Gilder’s theory, she uses his statistical support that married men are much less likely than single men to take drugs, steal a car, murder someone, etc against

In The Cohabitation Epidemic, Neil Clark Warren talks about the two sides of cohabitation which are those who do not have thoughts or intentions of marriage, and to those that want to benefit “a trial marriage”. One of the reasons of forgoing or delaying marriage is “Marriage has lost a lot of its luster in our society. The truth is, many people have never seen a successful, thriving marriage, mainly because great marriages are becoming scarce.” (pg.505-506). This would be a fallacy of appealing to an emotion and tradition since many children these are born to unmarried parents due to divorce, or there is lack of understanding of marriage. Because the children live with unmarried parents, this would lead to a tradition of not having to be married

xxxv. Husbands and fathers provided economic support and protection and represented the families to the outside world

Last, and most important, is that studies have not shown that more hours spent on homework leads to more knowledge. Time spent on homework does not correlate to better test scores. Some students can spend twice as much time as others and still not do as well. Grades do not necessarily improve with more hours of homework.

People believe that marriage is easy and is the key to love and happiness, but in reality marriage is harder than it looks. Everyone marries for different reasons, for good or for bad. People today don’t understand the meaning of marriage; it is more than just money and appearance. Seeing today’s world of marriage is being influenced by media shows like Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, and Murray makes you realize how society today identifies marriage different. Couples who live unmarried will be happier and have more choices than those that are married in agreement with Catherine Newman’s essay called I Do. Not.: Why I Won’t Marry in the book “Acting Out Culture: Reading and Writing “, by: James S. Miller. Catherine Newman is a writer and an author

Most people argue that the family is in ‘crisis’. They point to the rapidly increasing divorce rate, cohabitation, illegitimacy and number of single parent families.

Our society is based on different institutions. These institutions were implemented to set rules for members of the society to be able to live together. Marriage is one of these institutions. People get engaged with one another to build a life together, but they rarely ask themselves an important question: What are the concrete impact of Quebec's rules and regulations associated with marriage on the couples that decide to get married? Why do so many people choose to be in a common-law relationship instead? This paper will explain why marriage, as a social institution, should be reformed because of the poor adequacy between the needs of today's families and the rules in place in term of commitment,

The simplest and most basic foundation of a sociological civilization or group begins at the core center of sociology; which is marriage and the inner-fabric creation of a family. It is said that matches are made in heaven, however finding and defining your “soul mate” differs from one social group to the next. The social institution of marriage changes and adapts consistently through time, religious practice, and national beliefs. Many people believe they lead happy and satisfying lives without a marital partner, as others highly value and desire a life-long marital partner as the pinnacle achievement of their life.

Another area of similarity is the theme of love being explored exhaustively. There are different dimensions of love in the two stories. In 'The Word Love and Arranged Marriage,' 'We only have each other she often told her." (Banerjee 58) This suggests that there is a pure demonstration of compassion and maternal love displayed by the lady's mother towards her. The writer perfectly captured how she never remarried and dedicated her life to raising her despite the fact that her husband died two months after her birth. The passionate love that existed between the lady and her foreign lover is noticeable. Though she is overwhelmed by the impending consequence of her relationship which is antithetical to the Calcutta's marriage rite “(There has not been rain for a long time.) I am cherished.” (Banerjee 61). This suggests how intense and profound her love is to the guy; she feels she is blessed. She found it difficult to separate and work away. In fact, at a time, she almost forgot about the issue of arranged marriage. In the same vein, the theme of love is depicted in Silver Pavements

Today, the idea of marriage conjures images of bashful brides beautifully draped in all white, of grandiose flower arrangements climbing towards the ceiling, of romance personified. As an institution in this modern world, marriage represents the apex of romantic love, with an entire industry of magazines, movies, and television shows devoted to perpetuating marriage as an idealized symbol of the ultimate love between two people. Contrarily, as a sociological institution, marriage comes from much more clinical and impersonal origins, contrasting with the passion surrounding modern understandings of the institution. Notably, french anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss theorizes that the institution of marriage emerged from a need to form alliances between groups, with women functioning as the property exchanged so that such alliances could be solidified (Levi-Strauss).

Marriage is known to be a serious commitment by both the husband and wife in the past and to present day. Therefore, it is believed that it comes with many responsibilities and expectations. They also feel that to be married there are certain eligibilities. Before current society the husband expected for the wife to be a stay at home mother and have all the house duties complete when he arrived home from work. The expectations from the wife was that her husband would provide the income. Now, the expectations are entirely different. They both are expected to provide for the family as well as help with duties around the house. These modern expectations are concluded from many different reasons and a main one recently is from viewing of social media or from seeing family relationships such as parents or grandparents. The couple in the marriage then set their expectations so high that the outcome is usually negative. Why are there so many expectations for marriage that people feel obliged to have some sort of qualifications? While social media and impact from relative relationships can be an influence to the expectations for a marriage the outcome may not appear to come out like desired and much conflict between the couple can be expected.

Social conservatives blame divorce, cohabitation, illegitimacy, and the demise of the traditional family for society's ills, from poverty, crime, and juvenile delinquency to the moral decay and destruction of the American way of life. In the 1970s, marriage was at its lowest but by the late 1990s there was a reappearance of marriage, seen in the leveling off of the divorce rate. Although the claims for the value of marriage by conservatives and gay-rights proponents "were from two ends of the spectrum, they came together — at least at the rhetorical level — for what marriage...accomplishes and how crucial it is as a social institution." (Gallagher, 2002)