Preview

For Better For Worse By Stephanie Coontz Summary

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
399 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
For Better For Worse By Stephanie Coontz Summary
In the essay For Better, For Worse by Stephanie Coontz, she explains the history of the downfall of marriage. She states that in todays society it is much more common for individuals to moving in together and have children without ever getting married. She gives information on why marriage was more prevalent in the past as they would help individuals with political status, or economical for both individuals, as back then religion was more followed word by word. She continues that many individuals actually got married even if they never truly loved each other. Many counties have stated to legalized same sex marriages especial in countries that are extremely conservatives in religious beliefs, as many countries have also started to ease on divorce

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Author Stephanie Coontz writes about the ideas of love and marriage through out history in the article “The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love.” Early in the article Coontz quotes an early twentieth century author by the name of George Bernard Shaw, who states, “marriage is an institution that brings together two people under the influence of the most violent, most insane, most delusive, and most transient of passions. They are required to swear that they will remain in that excited, abnormal, and exhausting condition continuously until death do them part.” ( qtd. in Shaw 378) Coontz explains that the ideas of marriage today are, although heart felt, unrealistic and daunting. She reveals that not so long ago the thoughts on love and marriage were very different for many societies and cultures throughout the world.…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coontz Summary

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Stephanie Coontz’s, “A Pop Quiz on Marriage; The Radical Idea of Marrying for Love”, Coontz shows us historically how marriage has changed tremendously and why it has changed. She gives an example how people once married for political reasons and necessity. Then she explains that now, people marry for love, togetherness, and sex. Before the modern era, marrying for love was frowned upon. People married each other because they were forced to by their parents. In some cases, if a man and a woman were in love, it was looked upon as a limitation to the importance as more valued objects, such as god or family.Some people even had multiple wives or husbands and there was no jealousy between them. Today, there would be a whole lot of problems if…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fewer people are marrying for numerous different reasons. There’s a lot less stigma surrounding the issue of marriage in comparison to marriage in the1950’s for example. It’s no longer expected. This means that people now feel free to choose the type of relationship they want without scrutiny or judgement for their choice.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nevertheless, marriage as an institution is in decline because society has become more secular. Couples go through civil marriages or partnerships instead of marrying in the eyes of God. The British constitution of marriage is traditionally based upon the principles of Christianity e.g. the Church of…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    David Popenoe

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    David Popenoe and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead’s evolved thesis statement is, “ Americans are living longer, marrying later, exiting marriages more quickly, and choosing to live together before marriage, after marriage, in between marriages, and as an alternative to marriage,” (27). More and more people are getting divorced each year. There are a lot of people who never get married and live either single or unmarried. The “State of the Union” shows how divorce and living style of marriage has…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marriage has gone through profound changes over the last five decades, but we continue to speak about it as though it's the same old familiar pattern. To see how much has changed; I am going to look at the shift from the forties, to the sixties, to today. In 1968, less than a year after the famous Summer of Love, as they used to say out in the country, "The times they were a-changing." The sexual revolution, Viet Nam, drugs--the youth of the day were convinced the world would never be the same again. Yet they didn't think about how such changes would affect marriage. It seemed as if they thought it would be about the same as it had been for their parents, except better because they (like most youth of most times) thought they were better than…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    By the 1920s, there was evidence of an increased divorce rate. In today’s world, we have the highest divorce rate of all time, rising over 50%. According to surveys of the college students in the 1920s, the young believed that marriage should end in divorce if their marital relationship did not fulfill their expectations. Today’s society has a throw away marriage concept, with the majority of children being raised between two sets of parents or single parent households.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American Marriage in Transition exert explores the views of American couples and the differences in the three types of marriage over the last several decades. “Deinstitutionalization of marriage” is the phrase used by Andrew J. Cherlin to describe American couples in marriage. The examples explored are different types of cohabitation and same sex marriage. Cherlin refers to other historical works that point to shifts in marriage decades before. Those shifts have noteworthy implications for the future of marriage.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marriage, an important part of family life, has been heavily affected by changes in law and social policies. In Britain you are basically free to marry…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Suffocation Model

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the article The Suffocation Model: Why Marriage in America Is Becoming an All-or-Nothing Institution written by Eli J. Finkel, Elaine O. Cheung, Lydia F. Emery, Kathleen L. Carswell, and Grace M. Larson, the shift of marriage in American history was exemplified. These authors elaborated on how marriage has currently been deemed the suffocation model and the positive and negative connotations this type of marriage consists of was brought to light. A brief view of the different eras of marriage from 1776 to present are shown as well as how each era fits in with Maslow’ hierarchy of needs.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nowadays, there is less pressure to marry and a lot more freedom for individuals to choose the type of relationship they want. It’s considered more important about the quality of a couples relationship, rather than the legal status. The main and most important reason for the decrease in marriage and increase in divorce was the change in attitudes towards them. People now believe that it is alright to get a divorce if they are not happy in their marriage and with that, the stigma towards divorces has decreased. People divorce now on a day to day basis. We see in magazine articles about celebrities getting divorce and no one is against it anymore, unlike before when older members of the family would encourage the younger couples stay together through thick and thin. That's the same for marriage, as more and more people want to cohabit with their partner rather than get married as women now have more opportunities to work, higher expectations and set own rules about their life’s that before wasn’t possible.…

    • 730 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1950's Marriage Decline

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The average number of marriages has declined since the 1950’s for various reasons that scholars have tried to explain through their research (Vanorman & Scommegna, 2016). Even with the legalization of same sex marriage, there has been a decline in the number of married adults in the United States. In 1960, about three-quarters of all American adults were married, compared to 2014 where the number had decreased to about half of all American adults being married (Vanorman & Scommegna, 2016). The United States’s marriage trend has been influenced by factors such as cohabitation, delayed marriage, an increase in divorce with a decrease in remarriage, and the increase of having children out of wedlock (Vanorman & Scommegna, 2016).…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a society we are more apt to upgrade. Family education is still vital to success, but maintaining a standard consistent unit is not always essential. Divorce is considered to be socially acceptable today. Some people do not even consider marriage as an option; rather they choose to live together with no legal commitment. In the past there was never such a thing as a prenuptial…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As it states in the book Life Span Development, marriage was once viewed as an end point to adult development. Individuals believed they created the live they dreamt. Landing a career, finding someone they loved and planning a life with them. Today many people are staying single for a longer period of time. The book states that if a person has a…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The idea of marriage is an old and sacred one. In the Bible, a marriage is seen a holy sacrament between a man and woman that leads to the raising of a family. There is one man and one-woman involved- then with the addition of the holy spirit, the union is supposed to be ever lasting. “Christian marriage is a sacrament (sacred act approved by God). As a result marriage was very difficult to end, and before the nineteenth century usually ended with death,” (Chan and Haplin, 2001). In the world today, marriage is interpreted in many different ways. Very rarely is it seen as an everlasting contract that can withstand all tests. The revolutions of the 60s, 70s, up through today have severely changed the way people think of marriage. The drug culture has helped redefine the meaning of peace and love and of course, holy unions. People today do not get married out of the idea of love. If they do, it is most often between two young and naïve children or young adults that believe that love can conquer all. “People expect too much from specialized love marriages, and when the love goes so might the marriage. Other cultures unite families through arranged marriages, and these social functions may make them more stable,” (Chan and Haplin, 2001). People have begun to take advantage of the system and get married because of benefits they can receive. For the military couple, extra cash is a big incentive as…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays