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Attitudes toward marriage
Attitudes toward marriage
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Maggie Gallagher’s article “Why Marriage is Good for You” list some key points as to why marriage could possibly be good for someone. The topic itself is not an easy ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. It is a very dynamic topic of discussion that undoubtedly requires a significant amount of evidence to prove why a person feels one way or the other. Gallagher attempts to prove why she thinks marriage is in fact good for people. Some of her points are not as strongly supported as they should be. In order to give such a bold statement, a person a needs to have good evidence to support their argument.
Gallagher gives the notion that marriage always makes things better for people. As that may be true, it is important to back up that statement with something
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She implies that a man who is single and educated in any profession will make less money than a married man, due to a marriage premium. Her only comparisons are single men and married men, and her factors are education and job history. But there are so many other factors that will determine how much money a man will make. Regardless of being married or not, things like health status, job experience, and race, can all be factors in determining how much an employer is willing to pay someone. If Gallagher would’ve incorporated other factors into her theory, she could have made her statement …show more content…
“Divorce weakens the bonds between parents and children over the long run. Adult children of divorce describe relationships with both their mother and their father less positively, on average, and they are about 40 percent less likely than adults from intact marriages to say they see either parent at least several times a week” (Gallagher). This statement could be better supported if only Gallagher would have included test results of teenage or younger children of divorced parents. She could have also had other factors such as the results of the children who stayed with mom compared to children who stayed with dad. At the end of the day, regardless of the status of the parents’ relationship, a child will love whichever parent is around more. To whichever parent that shows more love, compassion, and interest. To whichever one who shows that they
Wilson makes strong points to show that marriage is good for human interaction, he fails to mention the aspects of marriage that take a toll on someone. He says that “our desire for sexual unions and romantic attachments is as old as humankind, and they will continue forever.”(431), but he does not state that marriage takes hard work and that it is not easy as pie.. The only negative point he focuses on is the financial aspect of marriage, when it is much more than that. When speaking about cohabitation, he states that it is merely a form of being single. He does not touch on the aspects of how it may progress to marriage; he simply says it will end within two years, again with no references to back this up. Wilsons attempts to convince the reader that marriage is the only way they will be able to stay in love because the incentive to stay together is much higher than living in cohabitation because you have invested that much more. He states that living in cohabitation “… I stop loving you; I walk away.” He continues saying that he fails to write about the house they could be renting, or even bought together and many other investments that people are living together purchase and pay for, even if it is
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.
In Linda J. Waite’s research “Does Marriage Matter?” , she is trying to encourage people demographers to share their knowledge of the benefits of marriage in order to influence the decisions of laypeople and public officials. Therefore, she presents a consolidated account of the major benefits of marriage. Waite proceeds to address the question: Does marriage matter? She provides a number of benefits which married people enjoy over non-married people, beginning with healthy behavior.
Is marriage really important? There is a lot of controversy over marriage and whether it is eminent. Some people believe it is and some people believe it is not. These opposing opinions cause this controversy. “On Not Saying ‘I do’” by Dorian Solot explains that marriage is not needed to sustain a relationship or a necessity to keep it healthy and happy. Solot believes that when a couple gets married things change. In “For Better, For Worse”, Stephanie Coontz expresses that marriage is not what is traditional in society because it has changed and is no longer considered as a dictator for people’s lives. The differences between these two essays are the author’s writing style and ideas.
Waite and Gallagher’s (2001) defense for married people seemed to come off as being judgmental and disrespectful toward under married people or to other people’s different view about marriage. I felt this way due to Waite and Gallagher’s (2001) choice of descriptive words used to describe certain topic, such as the following: “bargain” is used to describe marriage; “easy” to describe wives; “deal” to describe cohabitation; “wild lives” to describe single people; “hitting license” to describe domestic abuse among marriage couple. Due to these choice of word usage made it tough for me to want to continue reading their point due to it coming off more debatable or political instead of presenting scientific evidence of the benefits of being
Girgis, George, & Anderson (2011) define marriage as the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other of the type that is naturally (inherently) fulfilled by bearing and rearing children together. These marriages are intended to last eternity and are partially accomplished by raising children together, yet four of every ten marriages lead to divorce and of these divorces, 35% involve children (Ambert, 2009). Children tend to blame themselves for the divorce and are usually caught in the crossfire. These divorces lead to both stress and depression for children and without a strong sense of family, children will have a huge disadvantage over children with a stable healthy family (Arreola, Hartounian, Kurges, Maultasch, & Retana, 2013). Without the ability to cope with the stress of a divorce, children can be effected in multiple ways including a change in mentality, unacceptable behavioural traits and both short and long term emotional factors that will ultimately lead to a critical issue in child development.
Divorce is a very common word in today's society. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage or a complete or radical severance of closely connected things"(Pickett, 2000). This dissolution of marriage has increased very rapidly in the past fifty years. In 1950 the ratio of divorce to marriage was one in every four; in 1977 that statistic became one in two. Currently one in every two first marriages results in divorce. In second marriages that figure is considerably higher, with a 67% average (National Vital Statistics Report, 2001). One critical aspect of divorce is often not taken into consideration: How it affects children. Every year 1.1 million children are affected by divorce (Benjamin, 2000). Children from divorce or separation often exhibit behavioral and long-term adjustment problems (Kelly, 2000). Throughout this paper I will discuss divorces effects on children at different age levels, how they react, and what can be done to help them.
“Marriage is good for your health." Miami Herald [Miami, FL] 11 Feb. 2005. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 April. 2011
Additionally, marriage will support children to become productive citizens. Marriage is a self-sacrificing act of devotion to another human being. After several years, marriage has been under scrutiny. Though, starting in the mid-80s and forward on society has failed to acknowledge the common good of marriage, and what it has to offer. The government is not going to add their two sense into promoting programs, which will save marriages. However, what about the people who still believe in it, or need to save their own marriage that is on the brink of divorce. The government feels that marriage is not worth saving since it’s not for every person. It is understandable that marriage is not for everybody, but let the entire world a fair chance at the opportunity of
These authors are Waite and Gallagher in ‘The Case for Marriage’ and Brady’s ‘Why I Want a Wife’. It is evident that both readings recognize the importance of marriage to people in the modern world. This
The increasing numbers of couples choosing cohabitation over marriage may seem like the institution of marriage is falling apart and that many people today no longer understand the rules and assumptions of marriage. As I read the article “The Deinstitutionalization of Marriage Revisited: A New Institutional Approach to Marriage” by Sean Lauer and Carrie Yodanis, I learned that the approach to an alternative is not necessarily the deinstitutionalization of marriage itself as much as the discrimination present in the institution of marriage that prohibits the entrance of some individuals that are unable to meet the requirements to marry even if they wanted to. However, I go on to argue that marriage as an institution that promises social security
In the article “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love” the author, Stephanie Coontz, talks about how love has rarely been the motivating reason for marriage, and how in many cultures it still isn’t. She also informs readers of the reasons why people got married in ancient cultures, different types of motivations for marriage in modern cultures, how the union between spouses often isn’t the most important relationship in other countries, and how marriage is often not monogamous.
Inside the article “Why Marriage is Good for You”, Maggie Gallagher makes claims that marriage improves many facets of an individual’s life; including both mental and physical health, longevity, finances, and reduced chances of infidelity (Gallagher). The statements made throughout the article reference many statistics and studies conducted by various organizations and individuals, however, Gallagher falls victim to a number of common logical fallacies. While this weakens Gallagher’s argument in the article, it does not necessarily make it false.
The rights of women have been revolutionized over the last century and have influenced their household role, which resulted in having power balanced in marriage and couple’s relationships, a favorable attribute. The stay-at-home mother is no longer the typical situation in modern families since women can now be financially independent. What used to be a conventional motivation to take on marriage has diminished because modern women are not restricted in terms of earning a salary. Women have gained rights and therefore there is “more education among women…leading to better career prospects” (Harris). Consequently, it can be concluded that these careers allow them t...
Marriage naturally creates families; it provides the conditions for a healthy environment that is beneficial to the upbringing of children. Opponents of same-sex marriage often ground their arguments on parental and religious concerns. Many argue that sa...