Sister Wives: The Effect of Plural Marriages in Society

    The essay “Stone Soup” highlights many topics related to the common “issue” of families who are binuclear. Throughout the years, divorce has become a recurring event in couple’s marriages. In the essay, Kingslover writes, “.. a culture in which serial monogamy and the consequent reshaping is families are the norm— gets diagnosed as ‘failing’.” By saying this, the author basically expresses her disapproval of our society's views of “broken” families.  People too often judge what they see on the outside, and do not pay enough attention to what truly occurs in the lives of these families. Being a complete family—a father, mother, and children— is what defines normalcy to society, but how often does this work? The author of “Stone Soup” wrote, “To judge a family’s value by its tidy symmetry is to purchase a book for its cover.” To rephrase it simply, just as it is unfair to judge a book by its cover, it is evenly unfair to determine a family's successfulness by simply looking at how together or not together they present themselves. The idea of the nuclear family is not necessarily the ultimate way to achieve happiness, and throughout “Stone Soup,” the author intends on explaining that to us. A family containing step siblings, step parents, half-brothers and half-sisters, and multiple grandparents, could possibly be the happiest family, or maybe even the unhappiest, but it is not us who determines that. Nor is it the standard society has set for

She also targets “everybody else”, as in the nuclear families with their disapproving assumptions. She believes that as a community we should accept, respect and support each other’s families. Kingsolver puts forth her argument that, “During the Depression and up to the end of World War II, many millions of U.S. households were more multigenerational than nuclear.”(307), explaining that nuclear families are rather new standards of ideal in our community. While, men were deployed to war and women filled job positions left vacant, these multigenerational families were the way they raise their children and built a support system around themselves for any potential bad news. These families have stronger bonds and can withstand stronger storms than the nuclear families with 4 or so members. She also talks about how non traditional families are much like these multigenerational families “...his mother, her friends, his brother, his father and stepmother, a stepbrother and a stepsister, and a grandparent.”(302). She argues that these “children of divorce” have twice the amount of

What important changes in family patterns do you see today? Today I see family patterns change in many perspectives ways. Families are more independent. They form their own opinions in their decision making. Do you see positive changes, negative changes, or both? I would have to say that I see both positive and negative changes in families. The positive that I see is that many husbands are more involved with their children and even some are now stay home dads taking care of the children while women go to work, the negative that I see is that there are many people filing for divorce and children being raised by single parents. What do they mean for families, in your opinion? My opinion is that most people are

In today's society, there are various alternatives from the typical family type. The top examples of these are lone-parent, cohabitation and reconstituted. But there are also some others such as same sex couples, single parent and multi-cultural families. There has been a decrease in the number of nuclear families in the UK and an increase in various other families such as single parent families. But the raise in single parent households has to do with the increase in divorce across the UK which means that more people are left having to support their children on their own unless they become a reconstituted family.

The ideal household for children to be raised in, is a household with two biological

xxxv. Husbands and fathers provided economic support and protection and represented the families to the outside world

Marriage is at the very centre of the most of the communities practicing Mormonism, such as Bountiful located in British Columbia (Campbell, 6). Based on Mormonism, faith helps them to be closer to God and the role of the marriage is essential is achieving this celestial existence after death (Daynes, 5). Usually, polygamy is considered the prerequisite for Mormonism, however, it is important to note that only after the “New and Everlasting Covenant” plural marriages became common (Ryan 218). According to this new view, the celestial existence

Ultimately, “the impact of enforcement falls most heavily on women, who are barred at the border, abandoned in their home country or stuck in abusive relationships in Canada for fear of being found out and deported” (Burton, 2018). Women also tend to be stuck in abusive or unwanted relationships for the sake of their children; women understand and acknowledge how their separation can emotionally affect their children. Furthermore, polygyny - a branch of polygamy, also tends to disadvantage the offspring. Then again, “children in polygamous families share in the genes of an alpha male and stand to benefit from his protection, resources, influence, outlook, and expertise” (Burton, 2018). On the contrary, “their mothers are younger and less educated, and they receive a divided share of their father’s attention, which may be directed at his latest wife, or at amassing resources for his next one” (Burton, 2018). They are also at greater risk of violence from their kin group, particularly the extended family. Consequently, polygamy should not be legalised in Canada as children can be emotionally affected

There are many forms of families around the world. The structure of these families are influenced by the culture around them. Family is defined as "two or more people related by blood, marriage or adoption. The family may take many forms, ranging from a single parent with one or more children, to a married couple or polygamist spouses with or without offspring, to several generations of parents and their children” (226). There are many functions of the family unit around the world.

In a sociological perspective, family is interpreted as a social group whose members are bound by legal, biological, or emotional ties or a combination of all three. The sociological theories the connect to this concept are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism. First, functionalism states that the family socializes children, it provides emotional and practical support for its members, and it provides its members with a social identity. Secondly, conflict theory states that members create disagreements, and create emotional support and comfort. Finally, symbolic interactionism claims family members and intimate couples interact on a daily basis. "Families are defined as a relationship by blood, marriage, or affection" (Seccombe 5).

If you have never heard of polygamy you will and if you had in the past it was most likely due to the hit reality series “Sister Wives” about a polygamist family in the state of Utah. Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of having more than one spouse at a time. Polygamy is nothing new and has been practice for hundreds of years but it is now seen as an immoral act, and a criminal act in a large majority of the of the world. Now even though polygamy is wide known in certain areas like Africa (South Africa, Kenya), Asia (middle east), etc. Still there are rules that they must abide by and it frowned on in an obese manner in areas like the United States, Australia, and China, because as a society we see it as an unjust act that can not be upheld by any justification but it is permitted in the bible. I support polygamy because I see no fault in the act of a family with multiple spouses.

When looking for a partner to settle down with, one usually seeks someone who is similar to them. They might look for individuals with similar hobbies, beliefs or even age. The reason behind this is due to a theory known as Social Homogamy. Social Homogamy is when individuals are attracted to a person of a similar ethnicity, race, age, or maybe even beliefs. (Gonzalez, n.d). Due to this, there is ultimately a correlation between sameness and compatibility as when people are more alike they might relate and get along better. When people see others who are like them, they subconsciously become attracted to them along with having feelings of trust and comfort (Patel, 2017). This eventually leads to a closer bond and possibly a more successful relationship (Patel, 2017). The purpose of this research is to examine why marrying within a specific social group is more advantageous than marrying an individual of a different social group. Firstly, individuals of different social classes tend to have different norms, and this leads to key differences. Secondly, the distinctions in age groups between the couple can negatively affect a couple’s marriage due to dissimilarity, thus leading to dispute. Lastly, when a partner of an individual is from the same or similar social group, they will fit in and better adapt to their partner’s lifestyle. Therefore, marrying within the same social group is more advantageous than being with a partner opposite to them. This can be proven through the

Normal marriage would me monogamy, which consist only two partners. Polygamy marriage can include a man married to more than on wife at a time, or a woman married to more than on husband at a time. People who wants to have polygamy marriage lifestyle are commonly married to one spouse and cohabitating with the other spouses since polygamy is illegal in the U.S. Polygamist families tend to make up a very small portion of American household. Polygamy is officially and broadly practiced in more than eight hundred societies worldwide. It has been the focus of a substantial augmentation in public, political, and academic awareness throughout the last two decades. A number of research papers came out all through this time, primarily focusing on the influence of polygamy on behavioral, emotional, and educational alteration of children.

A woman pushes as hard as she can for the last time. “It’s a baby girl!” the man announces, as the new mother hangs her head in sight of the hardships her baby, Elizabeth, will face. Miles away in a hospital, another woman gives birth to a healthy baby girl, Marley. As she sees her baby for the first time, she smiles knowing all the great adventures this baby will experience in her life. The polygamous mom takes the little girl home to her family, a family where she has more than one mother and many brothers and sisters. As she grows up she lives her life trying to be “proper” and “sweet” in the eyes of the prophet. Somewhere far away, Marley is outside playing with her mother and learning how to be a kid. At the age of fourteen, young girls like Marley are innocent and should be going on dates, having fun with friends, and living their life, but for a fourteen year old Elizabeth, she is married to a man twice her age to be his second wife. As she begins her life with her husband, she sees the jealousy of the first wife and the neglect she feels by her presence. Shortly after, the young girl is replaced by another new wife after having a child. Ever since the day she was born, she had no control over these stages happening. Her fate was determined from time of birth and is determined by men until the day she dies. Her fate will be ruled by the religion of Polygamy.

Polygamy is the “practice whereby a person is married to more than one spouse at the same time” (Zeitzen 2008, 3)