Cohabitation Is Good For American Society

In Andrew J. Cherlin’s essay “American Marriage In Transition”, he discusses how marriage in America is evolving from the universal marriage. Cherlin’s definition of the universal marriage in his essay is the man is the breadwinner of the household and the woman is the homemaker. In the 20th century according to Cherlin, the meaning of marriage has been altered such as the changing division of labor, childbearing outside of marriage, cohabitation, gay marriage and the result of long- term cultural and material trends (1154). During the first transition of marriage, Cherlin discusses how in America, Europe, and Canada the only socially accepted way to have sexual relations with a person and to have children is to be married (1154). The second change in marriage occurred in 2000, where the median age of marriage in the United States for men is 27 and women is 25 (1155). Many young adults stayed single during this time and focused on their education and starting their careers. During the second change, the role of law increasingly changed, especially in the role of law in divorce (1155). It is proven in today’s research marriage has a different definition than what it did back in the 1950’s. Today marriage can be defined as getting married to the same gender or getting remarried to someone who already has kids. The roles in a marriage are evolving to be a little more flexible and negotiable. However, women still do a lot of the basic household chores and taking care of the

More women were leaving the traditional role of homemaker and entering the workforce. The amount of babies that have been born out of marriage has increased greatly. According to Cherlin the first transition was a move from the institutionalized marriage to companionate marriage. This move put a larger emphasis on the emotional satisfaction of the individual in order for that marriage to succeed and both individuals be happy. Cherlin said it focused on the couple being friends and lovers than following roles like the institutionalized marriage did. The age at which people got married had changed from what it used to be in the 60's. People were staying in school and finishing up education as well as starting their careers. As a result of these changes as well as others the definition of marriage changed yet again. It changed to what could be called a more individualized marriage "an intimate partnership entered into for its own sake, which lasts only as long as both partners are satisfied with the rewards (mostly intimacy and love) that they get from it" (Cherlin 49). Today's definition of marriage is very different than those before it. People can try living together to see if they work together. Some

Marriage has changed dramatically over time in the many years it has been around. What do think Marriage was like 100 years ago? The article, “American Marriage in Transition”, describes how many different types of marriage there are and how people have changed their view on it. Andrew Cherlin (the sociologist of the article) does a great job going in depth explaining American marriage. He arranges the different marriages in three different categories; Institutionalized which was the earliest type of marriage, then Companionship around World War II, and currently we are considered Individualized.

The American Family has changed in many ways throughout history, there are many factors which plays part in these changes. From the beginning you learn of marriage set up to create alliances in groups. Then marriage became based on affection and mutual respect rather than male authority and custom. Marriage became about love and emotions. There are some who still think that the bread-winner is still a possibility. Men feel they should provide for their family. Marriage has played a big part in the culture of American Family. Society might not have always seen everything as socially

In modern day marriages, American’s face several changes and challenges. "Not referring to the current legal battles regarding who is and who is not allowed to marry, but rather the 'hurdles' facing couples who do enter into marriage." Marriages in the new century has changed because now many people are choosing to live their lives with their companion without getting actually married. Americans are growing a lot more by accepting this option of not getting married correctly such as

Over the years, decades, and centuries the family has changed drastically. There used to be stay home moms in the 1900’s, then later on it became the mom and dads both would work, and sometimes the father would be the one staying home and just the mother would be the one working for her family. The norm used to be that the mothers would do the work around the house and the fathers would be the one who would be making the money for the house hold and be the only one supporting the family. As the time changed you can say the norm became twisted and switched up. Over time families have changed and the people have changed with it also, it used to be the people would be married younger and only be married once and know more people are getting divorced and less people are getting married, and in some cases people are marrying

In over half a century, marriage has transformed from being a social requirement to simply being an option in today’s society. What has caused this change? Many institutions in our society have changed drastically along with marriage. Although these institutions have not caused marriage to be optional, they do strongly correlate with the decreased value. The economy, education, religion, and government have all altered since the 1950s. When any institution encounters a change, all other institutions are affected. Family is a major institution in society, and I believe that marriage is an important aspect of this institution. Cohabitation, religion, women in the work world and divorce have all effected the way marriage is viewed today.

The book has a section entitled, “Marriage is traditional” and in that particular section it mentioned about how “marriage has changed over time.” When examined current day marriage trends show that people are looking for partnership or soul mates, not for the most traditional reasons of the past. The idea that one person is supposed to be with one person for the rest of their life is no longer relevant. It is possible to have many happy years with one person, but that does not mean that these people will die together. People can have a falling out. Situations change—people do grow. If people stayed stagnant their whole lives, where would society be? With the way

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).

In America today, one of our main life goals is to marry the person we fall in love with, live happily ever after, and skip gleefully away to live the American dream. In most cases, after marriage then comes children which starts a family. This has been a part of human nature since the beginning. Marriage and family are the backbone of our culture. Families need each other for support, dependence, learning, love, encouragement, and ultimately survival. Parents are the ones that supply these needs, meanwhile supplying their own needs by depending on each other for love and support. Only the two of them can give this support because of what they are to each other, husband and wife. When two people get married, they are obviously in

Today, alternative long-term relationships are growing in times in heterosexual and LGBTQ relationships. Cohabitation is defined by “Recent Changes in Family Structure” as quote: “an intimate relationship that includes a common living place and which exists without the benefit of legal, cultural, or religious sanction.” Between 2005 and 2009 2/3 of relationships approximately were preceded by cohabitation (“Rise of Cohabitation” 2014.) This arrangement is less committed and therefore it takes longer to end, without much emotional devastation of a pricey divorces. Most marriages still begin with cohabitation. However, it is becoming less and less likely that cohabitation will end in a marriage. Marriage is still common in today’s culture, with approximately 60.25 million married couples in 2016 (“Number of married couples in the United States from 1960 to 2016 (in millions)” 2016.) This is evident why it is killing the nuclear family standard. People are having less desire to fully commit to a marriage in the first place. 1950 social standards would have never accepted an unmarried couple as a part of a normal life so only can a legal marriage constitutes the ideal set forth. Another, way to break the standard is remove some components.

Yes, I agree with the fact that cohabitation is increasingly accepted in today's society, especially, in the US. What I learned from my sociology class is that, there are still class differences about cohabitation. For example, college-educated and moderately educated people have their own reasons on why they decide to cohabitate. It is also said that people who cohabitate before marriage have higher divorce rates compared to people who get married without cohabitate.

It was the Golden Age! We were living what was known as the ‘American Dream.’ Freedom, equality and opportunity for all. When the troops returned from war six years ago, this dream deviated and society became so fixated on obtaining the ‘perfect American household.’ It was inevitable. But who decides what is perfect? Who does perfect cater for? With the war won and over, and the promise of American prosperity on the horizon, it was merely the ideal thing to do; getting married, beginning a family and living in the suburbs. Essentially, you were displaced from society if you didn’t follow these conventions.

Since the nineteenth century began, the American family has gone through many changes. Among the many changes that researchers have studied, a few of these changes have been very apparent. The evolution and structure of American households have never seemed to be more diverse than they are now in these modern times. Families have become more racially, religiously, and ethnically diverse (Angier, 2013). Although some still frown upon it, one marrying another person of a different race is much more common and accepted now. Individuals of different religions will marry one another and find ways to make it work. People from different cultures have also come together and formed families. Overall, today’s society seems to be much more accepting than in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Social conservatives blame divorce, cohabitation, illegitimacy, and the demise of the traditional family for society's ills, from poverty, crime, and juvenile delinquency to the moral decay and destruction of the American way of life. In the 1970s, marriage was at its lowest but by the late 1990s there was a reappearance of marriage, seen in the leveling off of the divorce rate. Although the claims for the value of marriage by conservatives and gay-rights proponents "were from two ends of the spectrum, they came together — at least at the rhetorical level — for what marriage...accomplishes and how crucial it is as a social institution." (Gallagher, 2002)