Marriage In Patriarchal Society

Marriage “The Evolution of Matrimony” written by Stephanie Coontz, is about the social change in marriage. Marriage has been an important part of most societies in the world. It is about how marriage has changed in the past thirty years. The author points out the changes in marriage pervades the social, economic and political aspects of society. The changes have been at different rates depending on the region.

Marriage is described as two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are two typical ideas of marriage that we know today. The first one that comes to mind is the one we all know, based on love, but there is another one that some may not even know of and its arranged marriages. Arranged marriage is not typically in our culture we know but in different cultures arranged marriages are their normal marriage. Throughout this essay, I will discuss the importance of realizing cultural diversity and how we apply the perspectives we gain from cross-cultural comparison to our own experience using central concepts about marriage to compare and contrast marriage in several cultures.

To marry for money and not love is frowned upon as a social norm, but is also seen as an opportunity for women to rise in the social hierarchy. Though, love is to be the reason why bonds like marriage exist. Being a woman in the nineteenth century limits social advancement and makes it seem impossible without wealth, a background of family fortune, or matrimony to a man labeled high class. Emma Woodhouse, from the novel Emma written by Jane Austen, defines what it means to seek stature through marriage and how couples can aid in contexts such as social groups. Austen clearly covers social groups in her novel, but making the novels focal point circumvent around Emma. We look beyond how class enables opportunity for women and see just how

The change on the contemporary wedding, from what the society has been seeing in the 21st century, is phenomenal. People approach marriage very differently nowadays. Individuals still look for their “would-be” spouses. However, it's not for love or companionship purposes but convenience. In fact, Dr. Strohschein is quoted saying in the talk show says that marriage evolved to a "capstone" to an individual’s life and no longer a cornerstone of life as it used to be (Woodford, Luke, Grogan-Kaylor, Fredriksen-Goldsen, & Gutierrez, 2012). This paper explores Strohschein’s views in the light of sociological concepts and theoretical paradigm.

Cherlin concludes that although today’s society focuses on the ideas of independence and institutionalized what marriage once met, the symbol for marriage is just as significant as it was before. Marriage is now “something to be achieved through one’s own efforts rather than something to which one routinely accedes” (50). Cherlin’s overall tone is genuine, in search of an answer to explain the social change. It is informative to the fact that people should understand the change that occurred because of the social norm

But even in today’s world, many researchers and professors still see some sort of link between marriage and the oppression of women. An article from Psychology Today, written by Professor Noam Shpancer Ph.D. uses modern data to demonstrate the argument that Stetson made well over one hundred years ago. Shpancer’s article, titled Is Marriage Worth the Trouble for Women?, is best summarized as extending Stetson’s arguments of marriage being oppressive in nature, while also bringing new information about the inherent fact that benefits to marriage like “increases in health, wealth, and happiness that are often associated with the status—go disproportionately to men,” (Shpancer 1). Shpancer’s article also provides clear indication about whether or not marriage is oppressive, and it “appears to provide support for the notion that women experience the institution of marriage as oppressive, in large part because it emerged from and still carries the imprint of a system of female subjugation,” (Shpancer 1). Shpancer’s work provides excellent insight for the topic areas of marriage, oppression, and so

For many centuries women have had no legal rights and have been regarded as their husband’s property. Even though women’s right’s movement and the first feminist waves are dated to begin at the end of the nineteenth century, many women before have addressed the social injustice. Rosina’s letter “Rights of Women” was published August 13th, 1839 in “The Liberator”, an anti-slavery newspaper, and demands gender equality. At that time “married women essentially had no rights at all, as all legal authority rested with their husbands.” (Doepke and Tertilt 1541-1542).

Gender inequality has been a dominant and consistent struggle of human culture since its existence. To this day, women constantly face oppression, unjust treatment, and less opportunities. For centuries, women have played inferior roles compared to men, especially in marriage. When a man and a woman would wed, it was understood that the woman would serve her husband’s needs and demands. Over the centuries of human existence, however, many feminists and progressive revolutionaries demanded change in the treatment of females.

Through this conflict, the world has and will continue to evolve into the modern community that we already have begun to live in today. This information is prevalent within the short story “Marriage is a Private Affair.” Although marriage has evolved a great amount in the past into what we know it as today, there are still civilizations that have stuck to their traditional beliefs and are looking to begin their own crusade as to what marriage beliefs should consist

In the late 1800’s through early 1900’s women and men were did not “tie the knot” like the women and men do in today’s day. In today’s world, women and men get married because they have many things in common, they are in love with each other, and they choose to get married to one another. In many stories written back then, readers can expect to read about how marriages were arranged and how many people were not having the wedded bliss marriage proclaims today.

Simone de Beauvoir, in her 1949 text The Second Sex, examines the problems faced by women in Western society. She argues that women are subjugated, oppressed, and made to be inferior to males – simply by virtue of the fact that they are women. She notes that men define their own world, and women are merely meant to live in it. She sees women as unable to change the world like men can, unable to live their lives freely as men can, and, tragically, mostly unaware of their own oppression. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir describes the subjugation of woman, defines a method for her liberation, and recommends strategies for this liberation that still have not been implemented today.

Marriage is a union that has been around for as long as humans have walked the earth. The human race depends upon the union of its members, and as such, the subject of marriage has been an issue that receives more intense scrutiny and attention than many would likely believe. In today's day and age, with humanity continuing to move in a modern direction, many argue that marriage is a union that should be entered into freely and should be based exclusively on the love between two people. However, I argue that arranged marriage, which has taken place throughout the ages and throughout the world, is a union that offers its observers a marriage based in support, longevity and love, and is an institution that should not be frowned upon.

Today, the idea of marriage conjures images of bashful brides beautifully draped in all white, of grandiose flower arrangements climbing towards the ceiling, of romance personified. As an institution in this modern world, marriage represents the apex of romantic love, with an entire industry of magazines, movies, and television shows devoted to perpetuating marriage as an idealized symbol of the ultimate love between two people. Contrarily, as a sociological institution, marriage comes from much more clinical and impersonal origins, contrasting with the passion surrounding modern understandings of the institution. Notably, french anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss theorizes that the institution of marriage emerged from a need to form alliances between groups, with women functioning as the property exchanged so that such alliances could be solidified (Levi-Strauss).

Before examining particular societies, the general notions of patriarchy must be established. Generally, women were considered inferior to men, but each facet of society provides a distinctive insight into gender roles. A fundamental difference between the two genders was that the responsibility of a man was to be a member of the public, whereas the responsibility of a woman was to be in the home. Social norms defined men as “rulers, warriors, scholars, and heads of households” (Ways of the World 59). Even if a man had little

The marriage revolution has been a controversial issue since the dawn of time, and all that are and have been involved with “matrimony” are aware of the issues of the future. There can be no denying that the culture of marriage has changed. This very course is itself a great example of this fact. Much like any other sociological subject of any real concern, there are many “opinions” related to this issue. This paper will attempt to highlight marriage seen as the sociological transformation, marital erosion versus evolution, and why many people fail at marriage and what does it take to be successful in greater detail. This will allow you, the readers, to make up your own minds regarding this extremely multifaceted issue.