Soc 204 Notes Essay

Stephanie Coontz in “The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the Traditional Family” emphasizes that the traditional and ideal nuclear family widespread in media and textbooks are false and far from reality. In fact, it is common to see more similarities to the traditional family consistent of “male breadwinner and nurturing mother” (1) today than in the past.

Thank you for joining Specialty Sports, Inc. (the Company). We believe that you have a special contribution to make to our organization, and that you will find your employment with us a rewarding learning experience. We believe that you will feel that your employment with us will be one that is mutually gratifying and beneficial. We think you will find your future at the Company to be full of new opportunities, challenges, learn experience, new friends and become part of a great family.

“Will Your Marriage Last?”, by Aviva Patz, is a cohesive article about marriage and divorce. Aviva Patz is the executive editor of Psychology Today. Patz narrates the story of Ted Huston, a professor at the University of Texas, who followed the lives of 168 couples for 13 years after their wedding date. She was then able to draw conclusions about what makes a couple stay together or end up filing divorce papers. Although marriages and divorce are the themes of this article, it is really about society’s pressure on young people to be perfect.

Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection. Although it is not as easily defined as some may make it. Every situation and the lessons we learn from those times, help to form what we believe love to be. For some it may be a physical attachment that others degrade to lust. For some it may be their reason for continuing on in life; but overall for most, love is what drives our lives. From childhood to adulthood we seek to find relationships that will fulfill our hearts and make our short time on Earth a little more enjoyable. However as well as any other activity we partake in, ways in which we perceive love and marriage have changed over time. Although there is slight variations, when most imagine the life of a married couple pure happiness is what is expected. As wonderful as that expectation may be, not every marriage fits into this ideal. The criteria of marriage used to be based off of what your partner can offer you. However as times have changed and gender roles have begun to disappear, marriage has now

Marriage requires effort and work. Many newlyweds come into a marriage thinking it is easy but do not consider the consequences of marriage that heavily rely on balances and partnership. Marriage is all about compromise. It is important to engage in a premarital program to allow both partners to learn what to expect within a marriage, how to face certain roadblocks, and to better communication when conflict is aroused so that divorce does not become an option. Gottman’s research (2009) has made a significant contribution to the study of relationship and marriage tying unity, harmony, and communication together to make relationship and marriage work. When a couple who does not have consummate love (intimacy, passion, and commitment), they often portray the six indicators of divorce: harsh startup, the Four Horsemen, flooding, body language, failed repair attempts and reflecting on bad memories (Gottman, 2009). Divorce often occurs within the first two years of marriages and almost half of divorces end within the first seven years (Bhutto-Ramirez, 2015).

Conversely, most people perceive marriage as a sanctuary, satisfying the needs of both partners involved. It is one of the most important institutions affecting people’s health and well-being. Firstly, a strong marriage has a dramatic effect on the partners’

Numerous amounts of people are opting out of marriage; they feel that because marriages end in divorce anyways, they shouldn’t even try. Carefully, Feldhanh emphasizes slight changes that will help decrease divorce rates such as being college educated; he also mentions how cohabiting might increase the possibilities of divorce. Uniting in marriage too young is also a factor in these high divorce rates, and it is recommended that couples marry after their mid-twenties in order to increase the possibility of reaching their twentieth anniversary. There lacks a perfect equation to make a marriage work, but simple and small details make a difference (pp.

It is estimated some over 2million people get married each year. Half of divorces occur with in the first seven years and one-third within the first four years of marriage (Shapiro, 2000) given the above numbers one might be inclined to believe so. Researchers however have discovered several other factors that come into play. To better be able to understand this topic, I have reviewed various types of literature on this and relating subjects, my finding will be discussed throughout this paper.

It is thought that marriages are made in heaven and celebrated on Earth, but how long can they be celebrated for? The question that continues to stump people today, is how a marriage can last for years and even decades at a time. To understand a long-lasting marriage and what makes one prosper, one must first look at the steps it takes to create the foundation of a healthy marriage. The ability to understand extremes is where researchers define the spectrum of normalcy. To begin with, one must figure out what it is that terminates a marriage.

In many ways family systems theory can be seen as a broad field where there many different implications that make up the system, it is a system. A system is a set of objects that are bound together by a relationship, which are based around the attributes of the objects as drawn upon by (Janet.BB, 1982). Family systems theory addresses the many different ideals and values that make up a typical family, these include the roles each member of the family, the power relations either from the male of the family or both parents of the family, the boundaries that are set within the family to ensure that the structure of the family is secure, in both individualistic and collectivist families this can be seen (Fred Rothbaum, 2002).

Nearly all couples consider marriage as living happily ever after, on the contrary, seldom do we encounter the experience of happily ever after in marriages in this day and time. Countless families are confronted with grueling problems that swarm into the family system that make it difficult to move forward and experience a happy marriage. Despite the fact numerous challenges can often be resolved within the family unit, there are various other troubles that can be harsh to tackle.

In order to effectively analyze how the greedy institution of a family has presented and continues to present tricky situations for me, it is important to understand my specific status and roles. A status is a norm, position or rank and is occupied, whereas a role is played. There are two basis kinds of statuses. An ascribed status is one that society gives to us and an achieved status is one in which we earn because of our actions and behaviors. When looking at my statuses within my family, my ascribed statuses would include the fact that

▪ Family means the most to several people and the decisions made for any member would have an impact on the family as a

An earlier generation of scholars assumed that wives' employment and income are risk factors for divorce. More recent evidence, however, is mixed about the strength and even the direction of this association (Rogers, 2004; Sayer & Bianchi, 2000; Schoen, Rogers, & Amato, 2006). On the basis of research from the last decade, several conclusions seem likely. First, wives' employment has the potential to generate tension between spouses over the household division of labor. Frisco and Williams (2003) found that perceived unfairness in the division of household labor was associated with decreased marital happiness among spouses and an increased likelihood of divorce. Similarly, Amato, Booth, Johnson, and Rogers (2007) found that wives' hours of employment tended to increase spouses' perceptions of marital problems. The authors also found, however, that wives' earned income improved other dimensions of marital quality

Where they sit and talk in a romantic environment. Their real romance and true love started after the marriage.