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Family & Sociology of Marriage
The purpose and social function of marriage has changed. While marriage was once a binding declaration of commitment and love to another person of the opposite gender, avowed and proclaimed in a holy ceremony, today marriage has become a catch all; a legally binding contract between two people who, for any reason, can choose to end the marriage without stigma or difficulty. Today, half of marriages end in divorce (CDC, 2010). And yet, millions of people remain happily married in America. Why? How? What is it that enables some couples to remain not just married, but happily so? Sociologists have analyzed the social, cognitive, and emotional consequences and detriments to failed marriages on the family. Results seem to indicate that successful marriages are not successful by chance, but rather, the product of hard work, compromise and mutual respect. While these criteria do not guarantee a successful marriage, they are correlated with higher satisfaction rates among married couples.
Family life
As a pillar to family functioning, marriage has served several important social objectives; it provides a foundation for couples to not only declare their love for one another, but also serves as a social instrument for the propagation of family and children. Marriage may have traditionally been an institution of love and affection, a demonstration of bonding for a man and a woman, but times have changed and perhaps no other social custom has changed as much as that of marriage. While social customs and behaviors have changed over the course...
However, times change, and with that change, has come a shift in perception of the function of marriage in conjunction with the prevalence of divorce, compared to prior generations and modern situational factors.
Changes in marriage and divorce rates over time
Stevenson and Wolfers (2007) analyzed marriage and divorce trends over a 150-year span. In doing so, they found that the divorce rate, per capita, has risen while marriage rates, fluctuating from era to era, have remained relatively constant around a stable mean (Stevenson and Wolfers, 2007) in part, due to the changes associated with social and economic factors. While divorce rates doubled between the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, many social factors may have contributed to this steep increase; the rise of the women's liberation movement and the resulting "sexual revolution," the Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), that held marriage a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution, which effectively eliminated inter-racial prohibitions to marriage have all contributed to increases in divorce rates in America. Also, with the effects of increased labor market participation among women and the elimination of "fault" in divorce proceedings, divorce rates have increased (Stevenson and Wolfers, 2007).
Finances
Dakin and Wampler (2008) note that financial issues are among the primary reasons married couples divorce.…
References:
Dankin, J., Wampler, R. (2008). Money Doesn't Buy Happiness, but It Helps: Marital Satisfaction, Psychological Distress, and Demographic Differences Between Low- and Middle-Income Clinic Couples. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36:300 -- 311.
Freeman, C., Carlson, J., & Sperry, L. (1993). Adlerian marital therapy strategies with middle income couples facing financial stress. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 21(4), 324 -- 332.
Reis, H.T., and Collins, N. (2000).Measuring relationship properties and interactions relevant to social support. In S. Cohen, L.G. Underwood, & B.H. Gottlieb (Eds.), Social support measurement and intervention: A guide for health and social scientists (pp. 136 -- 194). New York: Oxford University Press.
Rogers, S.J. (2004). Dollar, dependency, and divorce: Four perspectives on the role of wives' income. Journal of Marriage and Family, 66, 59 -- 74.
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