Companionship Marriage: the Salvation of Marriage in America

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Companionship Marriage: The Salvation of Marriage in America Anthony Truong English 2, Sarah Benson Csanyi May 10th, 2012 Companionship Marriage: The Salvation of Marriage in America The institution of marriage in America has undergone several changes through the 20th century due to the changing culture and philosophies that dictated American lifestyle, for better or for worse. However the latter seems to hold true as many modern marriages today are more volatile and nearly half of these unions end in divorce – a stark contrast to the number of divorces that existed at 9% nearly a century ago (divorcestatistics.org, 2012; pbs.org, 2009). The lower divorce rate was due to the fact that marriages one century ago operated under institutionalized conditions, otherwise being termed as institutional marriage, in that there was a male head that lead the family and its operations and the purposes of marriages were focused on creating and sustaining a family (Cherlin 2010). However, this type of marriage lost its popularity in the developed world due to a lack of satisfaction and happiness in the marriage (Miller, 2006). Looking to build more emotionally satisfying, marriages today have evolved to operate under individualized mode of thinking. For example spouses seek emotional and sexual fulfillment for themselves, the development of themselves as individuals, and the achievements of one’s own economic and personal goals. This is termed individualized marriage (Cherlin, 2010). It is common to see both spouses, the husband and wife, working outside of the home to continue to further their own career goals, having non-prescribed roles within the marriage, and develop their own personalities. The theme of individualized marriage, then, becomes having both partners having a want to satisfy their own personal interests and growth as individuals, in

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