American Marriage In Transition Analysis

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Stacie Sanford Sarah Hastings English 161 6 October 2013 “American Marriage in Transition” Analysis Through the years the meaning of marriage has changed. The reasons for some of these changes are due to the many cultural and social changes, such as cohabitation, and gay marriage. In the article “American Marriage in Transition”, Andrew J. Cherlin explains how these changes, altered the meaning of marriage in our society between the 19th and 20th centuries. He broke down the different types of marriages into three distinct types: institutionalized, companionate, and individualized. So we ask ourselves, how did marriage change between the 19th and 20th century? I am sure this is also a question Cherlin asked himself when he…show more content…
As I stated earlier Cherlin broke marriage down in three types, the first that he spoke of was the companionate marriage. This type of marriage is based on the companionship, friendship and love shared between couples. He spoke of the pride couples took in their rolls in the family, dad as the breadwinner and mom as the homemaker and caregiver to her children and husband. As transitions continued, companionate marriage became more of an ideal than a norm. The roles of husbands and wives became more open to negotiation, and a more individualistic idea on the benefits of marriage took shape. More people began to evaluate their marriages, and began to focus more on themselves and what would be the best way for them to go about building a family and becoming a spouse or parent. The result was a transition from the companionate marriage to what Cherlin called individualized marriage. Another type of marriage is the institutionalized marriage. An institutional marriage is based mostly on laws, tradition, and religious belief. Even though Cherlin breaks down marriage into types, I ask is it really fair to do so? With so many changes in our society both culturally and socially I believe that it is more important for people to do what’s best for them. It doesn’t seem very fair to judge people based on what others believe to be right or wrong. It’s not up to us, especially if whatever they…show more content…
In many cases, the wife was expected to run the house and provide child care. The husband would be the breadwinner and handle the financial decisions. Love was shown in part by performing duties for the family. As we discussed marriage has undergone many transformations that helped weaken the social norms that defines normal relationship ideas over the past few decades. Some examples of this are apparent with the increasing number of cohabiting relationships and the changes in both marriage and divorce rates during the 20th century. As Cherlin breaks down how marriage has transformed he shows us how marriage has gone from the institutional to compassionate, and now more individualized. Although the practical idea of marriage has decreased, its significance has remained high and is on the increase. I still believe that the majority of people marrying expect to stay in love forever. As we know expectations change in both what is expected when a marriage begins and as the marriage progresses. Expectations change with each generation of people who chose to get married and as people mature and families grow. All these expectations change to meet the changing circumstances, and maybe we should too. I believe this article shows not only the transformation
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