Can traditional marriages survive in an egalitarian workplace? In their article on the subject, Christine E. Stanik, Susan M. McHale, and Ann C. Crouter, all researchers at Pennsylvania State University, found that in some cases egalitarianism can be compartmentalized, and that the workplace does not have to affect the home (Stanik, McHale, and Crouter 797). In those certain cases, traditional marriage and marital love should be thriving as our society adapts to a new era. In an article published by Administrative Science Quarterly, Sreedhari Desai and his coworkers research shows that most strong traditional marriages will be affected negatively by a shift of egalitarianism at work (Desai et al. 351). This means bad news for marriage, …show more content…
351). With the evidence surrounding it, traditional marriage backs into a corner. Marriage needs a template to survive, and egalitarianism in society tears that template apart.
The second cause of the decline of marriages stems from the major shift in both a traditional family, and the traditional household. According to Desai and his team, separations of labor determines a marriage. They found that the traditional separation of labor included women working in the home, while men go out and become the breadwinners of the family (Desai et al. 331). These traditional values are often times considered to be sexist. Sabino Kornrich, a
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Furstenberg has narrowed the possibilities down to two courses of action: work on improving and fixing marriages now, and hope that the children will follow suit. Or, educate the children on how to deal with these issues now and hope that marriages in the future will correct themselves (Furstenberg 80). Either idea presents a possible solution, the difficult decision becomes which route should society choose. Stanik, McHale, and Crouter believe that perhaps society does not have to make tradeoffs with this decision. Their research found that in traditional marriages, an increase in time that parents spend with their kids results in a mirrored increase in marital love. Perhaps focusing on the children a little more and spending time together as a family might actually resolve and strengthen marriages that
Marriage has changed more over the last 30 years than the previous 3,500 years. As
There appears to be widespread agreement that family and home life have been changing dramatically over the last 40 years or so. According to Talcott Parsons, the change in family structure is due to industrialization. The concept that had emerged is a new version of the domestic ideal that encapsulates changed expectations of family relations and housing conditions. The family life in the postwar period was highly affected. The concept of companionate marriage emerged in the post war era just to build a better life and build a future in which marriage would be the foundation of better life. Equality of sexes came into being after...
For as long as we can remember, the idea that marriage is sacred, desirable, and even necessary has persisted in the western world. In a way, society has taught us that in order to live a normal, fulfilled life, one must find their soul mate, marry them, and spend the rest of eternity together. According to tradition, a perfect marriage is characterized by a husband that goes to work every day while the wife remains within the home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. Tradition has further dictated that once the husband returns from work, the wife has dinner ready and the family sits down around the table to share a meal together. American literature is full of stories that both play on or challenge these traditional roles within a marriage. But, one might ask, does
Over the centuries, these methods have changed. These methods are changed because of events in history. Such events like the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, WWII, and mass numbers of Immigrants are said to be the cause for the loss of the "traditional family. Coontz states, "The Industrial Revolution destroyed the traditional family." The Industrial Era provided work for younger ages. With the age of the work force lowered, children had less time to play; the roles for women were redefined, causing more individuality with in a family. This was not the style of the traditional family, when the wife cooks the meals, takes care of kids; the husband goes to work, and supports the family, traditionally.
Warren Farrell is a well educated man who focuses his attention on gender. In his essay “Men as Success Objects,” he writes about gender roles in male-female relationships. He begins, “for thousands of years, marriages were about economic security and survival” (Farrell 185). The key word in that statement is were. This implies the fact that marriage has changed in the last century. He relates the fact that post 1950s, marriage was more about what the male and female were getting out of the relationship rather than just the security of being married. Divorce rates grew and added to the tension of which gender held the supremacy and which role the individuals were supposed to accept. “Inequality in the workplace” covered up all of the conflicts involved with the “inequality in the homeplace”(Farrell). Farrell brings to attention all ...
Human beings are not isolated individuals. We do not wander through a landscape of trees and dunes alone, reveling in our own thoughts. Rather, we need relationships with other human beings to give us a sense of support and guidance. We are social beings, who need talk and company almost as much as we need food and sleep. We need others so much, that we have developed a custom that will insure company: marriage. Marriage assures each of us of company and association, even if it is not always positive and helpful. Unfortunately, the great majority of marriages are not paragons of support. Instead, they hold danger and barbs for both members. Only the best marriages improve both partners. So when we look at all three of Janie’s marriages, only her marriage to Teacake shows the support, guidance, and love.
The definition of American family is based on the idea that a legally married couple shares a household, which has been considered as a male that provides the income and a female who is responsible for taking care of the husband, household and children. Even though, Maggie Gallagher in her essay the benefits of marriage in “Why marriage is good for you,” states that she is trying to promote the return to more traditional view of marriage within the society. However, there is a controversy that American family is experiencing changes in every aspect, being on decline as a consequence of three factors. First, more babies are born in extramarital relations, second, individualism of men and women including same sex couples, and third, the high rates of divorce.
Stephanie Coontz, author of The Evolution of Matrimony: The Changing Social Context of Marriage, writes that there has been more changes in marriage in the past 30 years then there was in the 3,000 years earlier. With these changes there are no religious or cultural exclusions. Coontz claims, “Right here is America’s Bible belt exist some of the highest rates of divorce and unwed motherhood in the country, and born again Christians d...
Nontraditional roles have caused a huge change on how people view marriage these days. Most people in the older generations view nontraditional roles as a bad thing because they think that traditional roles are important in the dynamic of a marriage. Traditional roles have set expectations of how a family is and how the marriage will go. Nontraditional roles have a bad reputation because there is not necessarily have a set expectation of the way the marriage will be and a set expectation of how the family will be. The expectations of a traditional marriage are that the wife will stay at home and clean, cook, and take care of the children. The husbands would be the “breadwinners” and work outside of the house. If the wife is not able to
Throughout the past generations, including my parent's the family was defined as a traditional (patriarchal) relationship, where the male was the breadwinner and the female was the caretaker of the home and family. My generation has seen the materialization of what Pepper Schwartz describes a "peer marriage." Peer marriage is different from the traditional marriage in four key ways: men and women regard each other as full social equals, they both have careers, the partners share equal rights in decision making regarding finances, and compared to the past "traditional relationship" the male plays a greater role in the responsibility of raising the children (299).
Society in the U.S. has evolved immensely over the past century. With this evolution there has been a redefinition of what gender and gender roles are and this redefinition has influenced a change in the common structure of families and marriages in the U.S.
According to Schoen et al. (2002), marital satisfaction is a global evaluation of the state of one’s marriage and a reflection of marital happiness and functioning. From an evolutionary perspective, it can be viewed as a psychological state of regulated mechanisms that monitor the benefits and costs of marriage to a particular person (Shackelford and Buse, 2000). Once Emest Burgess, a respected sociologist, wrote in 1953 that, •urbanization, greater mobilization, individualization, increased secularization, and the emancipation of women had transformed the family from an institution based on law and custom, to one based on companionship and love" (Furstenberg, 1996:35). This statement illustrates that not only societal changes, that have occurred in the last fifty years provide significant changes within the family and spouse behavior, but it also provides some insight into the adjustments that individuals who are married have had to face within the previously relatively well-defined institution of marriage. This means that these pre – defined institution of marriage have undergone significant changes overtime which places serious demands on marital relationship. Contemporary married couples face many challenges that require renegotiation and reformation of previously defined and taken-for granted marital roles and expectations in order to achieve more intimate, companionable committed and adjusted marriages (Baker, Kiger & Riley, 1996:161). As we know that human relationships and marital relationships are never clear-cut and tend to fluctuate and undergo changes across time and circumstance, it renders the investigation of marital relationship dimensions, and the factors that are potential determiners of it. Marital satisfaction ...
is the most usual in which a man and a woman unite themselves in the
107). When it comes to culture and society, there are many differences and this can impact both a family and one’s marriage (Kendall, 2014, p. 106). In recent studies, evidence has shown that African American women have the lowest rate of marriage and Hispanic immigrant mothers have the highest (Hamilton & Hummer, 2010, p. 113). Results from data taken in a research project based on fragile families have shown the link of marriage tied to class (Hamilton & Hummer, 2010, p. 113). Within the United States, there are many individuals that will marry due to social class and personal choice (Kendall, 2014, p. 451). Marriage and families also start with the influence from elders and their beliefs (Kendall, 2014, p. 451). More specifically, marriages in the US are likely due to similarity within race, beliefs, class and morality (Kendall, 2014, p. 451). However, issues do arise when someone outside of the family’s norm tries to enter (Kendall, 2014, p. 451). Due to this personal choice, there can be a division amongst family members and a person’s married life (Kendall, 2014, p. 451). Another way in which a person selects a mate is based off of gender. As previously stated, this has been evolving over the years by having more same sex marriages (Kendall, 2014, p. 106). With as many different factors in today’s society, family and marriages can be linked in various
Marriage, and specifically in western cultures is a topic that has greatly changed over the course of time. From the 16th century all the way to nowadays, numerous aspects of marriage, and the reasoning behind it have evolved. Historically, marriage was less about emotions compatibility and more about other socioeconomic benefits. These unions of two people were based upon functions like controlling wealth, sexual relations and building networks. The division of labour is also something that has greatly changed over the course of the last centuries. At the start of the 17th century, individual people from each gender were looked at as less of a person than if they were united by marriage. Apart from being part of the church, unmarried individuals were to live at the farthest margin of society. By the 18th century, being a bachelor was considered to be the lowest form of manliness, and soon after, any man who wasn’t married would have a hard time securing credit for himself. On the other side of things, unmarried females were the ones that coined the term “spinsters.” This word originally was an honorable title referring to textile production but soon after, it became an offensive slur. Women soon felt as if being married to anyone was better than being called that word. Marriage has not only changed since the medieval times but it has also greatly changed within the past 3 decades. More focus has been put on emotional compatibility and less on the financial aspect of marriage. There are also deeper connections between child and parents whereas in the past, parents acted more like “dictators,” and less as friends. The increase in emotions in marriage has led to sex being used more for recreation as opposed to solely for conceiving ...