Marriage and family - Essay Example

Modernity Unravels Marriage Market expansion and liberalization of waged labor in the late 17th Century disentangled theforces of themarriage institution. In particular, new approaches of wealth acquisition and waged labor diminished kinship and parenting roles. Late 18th Century was characterized by changes parenting choices, where couples married for personal relationship benefits. As such, the roles of both husbands and wives changed, making the couples become soul mates. Thiswas partly influenced by the transformation of economies from household to factory production.

According to Coontz, these transformations are referred to as “love revolution” and ultimately undermine the stability of themarriage institution. Coontz came into this conclusion after evaluating different forms of marriage over a long period. In particular, Coontz studied “separate spheres”, “companionship” and “long decade” marriages of 19th and 20th Centuries the and 1950s respectively. In the 1950s, marriages were characterized by existence of a single male earner, whom other members depended on for survival.

Considering the rise of capitalism in the post-WWII, many people opted to marry when young in order to gain happiness and sexual fulfillment in the companionship. Prosperity Allows Choice Because of market expansion, a large number of women provided labor services in the industries, hence gaining some income. Consequently, they encouraged their daughters to further their education in order to gain more benefits from the industrial development. Women involvement in higher learning and income generating activities made them to stay single for a long time, something that brought about frustrations.

This led to the rise of feminist movements that encouraged independence among women. In addition, economic empowerment encouraged women to abandon loveless marriages by applying the divorce laws. Moreover, new technologies made it easier for men to live in single livelihood. Toughened economic situation in the 1970s, which saw the reduction of wedges encouraged women to participate in income generation. In addition, the legal reforms In the 1960s and 1970s, which saw the narrowing of the gap between legitimacy and illegitimacy made people to change marital perceptions.

Therefore, there are more cases of single parents and cohabiting because young people seek to establish their financial stability before accepting marriage responsibility. Change and Continuity Traditional marriages allowed men to exercise power over women in the institution. It is for this reason that women became excluded in the from the public life activities. However, it is the economic independence among women that brought about changes in marriage institution ion the late 20th Century.

Coontz recounts the transformations by evaluating women subjectivity to male dominance. In theevaluation of decades, Coontz is not concerned with the origins of the male dominated marriage systems, but concentrates on the changes that have taken place over time. Coontz does not indicate that women organized and forced the transformations in the institution. Lastly, Coontz does not emphasize on the impacts of capitalism on institution of marriage. This is because, in the last part of her book, she argues that couples choose to be together and hence are happier.

In addition, there are no external interferences from other relations hence the control over needs and expectations of the couples.