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`` What 's Love Got For Do With It `` By Stephanie Coontz

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Stephanie Coontz is a sociologist who is interested in marriage and the change in its structure over the time-span as love became a main proponent of the relationship involved in marriages. In her article, “What 's Love Got to Do With It,” Coontz argues that the more love becomes a part of the equation the less stable the institution of marriage becomes. Marriage at one point was a social contract that bound two families together to increase their property and wealth as well as ally connections. Each party entered into the contract knowing their roles and if one partner failed to meet the expectations, they were still contractually obligated to one another and were not allowed to divorce. As love became part of the equation, each partner was less sure of their obligations and often chose to end their marriages if at all possible. Even as recently as the 20th century, marriage was still very much so a contractual relationship. Princess Diana and Prince Charles were the quintessential couple in the public eye and every one believed that it would be the fairy tale wedding of the century, but the marriage itself was very lackluster. Princess Diana was disappointed with her marriage once their two children were born and she had fulfilled her role as wife and mother and Prince Charles went back to his mistress of several years. Diana was bitter and responded by “taking on a series of lovers of her own” (Coontz 1). In times past however, the generations before Diana would have

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