American Marriage in Transition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

American Marriage in Transition - Essay ExampleCherlin points out infant bearing outside family, changes in household labour division, cohabitation and gay sum as factors which redefined the structure of marriage as a social intitution (403). Other freelance(a) trends included decline of agriculture labour and the corresponding append in wage labour the decline in child and adult mortality arise standards of livingand in the last half of the 20th century, the movement of married women into the paid workforce(403). These factors along with global events including depression and World War II brought in changes in the sociological understanding of the term marriage to a large extend.One of the first meaning assigned to marriage was that of a address which legitimises sexual relationship and to have children. Cherlin here provides a comparitive global picture on the understanding of marriage at this context. He notes that this trend resulted in an increase in the percieved importan ce of marriage among young Americans during the 1950s (403). This trend began to diminish in the 1960s. The median age of marriage in US began to be as it used to be in early 1900s (403). Cherlin also notes that during this perion living together before marriage became more common. Another notable trend during this period was that divorses change magnitude and same sex unions found greater acceptance.The article further talks about the transition from companionate marriage to individualistic marriages. The three rattling characterestics of these marriages were self development flexible and negoitibale roles within marriages and communication and openness in confronting problems(404). The article provides extensive literature support which suggests similar trends.Cherlin identifies that a complete deintitutionalisation of marriage occurred in the 20th century. Here the bonding of marriage was not based on the traditional roles as that of raising children. These