The Myth Of Marriage By Dr. Coontz

r. Coontz discussed the history of marriage and various myths involved with it. Today we look at marriage as something that is based on two people falling in love, which includes equal roles between the two partners. Coontz, however, explains how this has not always been the case, as well as how much of what we think is new and progressive has actually been in practice throughout history.

Discussing the myths of marriage, Coontz is able to describe how many practices that we have today have been going on for years. Single-parent families and step-families, for example, are by no means a new concept like we assume. Before the practice of modern medicine, a large amount of marriages ended in death. Because of this, mothers or fathers were forced

Coontz through her explanation of how history has treated the situations.

Coontz described marriage of the recent era to be similar to the industrial revolution: with many tragedies but also many successes and with no chance of going back. Technology and progressive social understandings have provided a drastic amount of changes for people involved in marriage. It is not more acceptable, for one, for people to decide not to marry or not to have kids, which back in the 1970s and before would be unheard of. There is also more equality of the genders, which opens the door to a completely new family dynamic. Much of this newfound freedom and love in marriages, however, have opened the door to more accessible divorce. On top of this, single parents and children out of wedlock have become more common. These changes in society between now and the 1970s, however, has given more access to being a good parent despite various circumstances. There is research and an understanding of being a good single parent and raising strong successful children. There is also more research on knowing how to make marriages work better. The new understandings of marriage and raising children also is helping to raise more well-rounded children, with