When analyzing families as social institutions, marriage
plays a vital role in the formation of the family itself. Whether it’s the type
of marriage taking place, or if there is a marriage at all, these factors
affect the kind of family one will form. Sociologically, we can see numerous
patterns within the family institutions based on different marital or
non-marital characteristics. These characteristics most definitely have changed
throughout history due to the modernization of our society, which have in turn
shifted what a “typical” family institution would usually look like.
Back in the day, it was very common for a couple to get
married in their early teens, (15/16 years old) and begin to start a family.
This was the norm at that time and apart of the culture in most of America. It
was actually quite unusual and very frowned upon if a man or a woman had not
found a spouse by this time because they were expected to begin their own
family and most likely keep up their family agriculture business, or start
their own. A family then was extra help on the farm and around the house, which
as you expect, farming was primarily for the males and cooking and cleaning for
the females. This process clearly outlines the sociological stages of family
life, which are, courtship, romantic love, and then childbearing. It seems very
simple and organized, and since this was the typical pattern followed in early
America we can better understand why as our country has become more and more
modernized it has taken awhile for our people to become accustomed to changes
within the family institution, and specifically, marriage.
In this modern day we face change on a daily basis, in
almost any aspect of society. More specifically, throughout the past decades
our society has challenged the meaning of marriage in various ways. We often
now see same-sex marriage, endogamy, exogamy, polygamy and so on. The thing is,
a lot of the country has been opposed to anything besides a man and a woman
coming together under “God’s name” for a long time, but as the people born in
the last two decades grow up, we see a drastic change in the acceptance of these
kinds of change. We can primarily tie this acceptance to the weakening of old,
religious traditions and culture. As a result of these changes we now see
families with children having two dads, or two moms, which affects the way the
child is raised because children are primarily socialized by their parents.
These changes to the family institutions are very controversial throughout the
country, seeing that they have both positive and negative aspects. Another
modern trend that is becoming more popular is cohabitation, where a couple
chooses not to marry at all. With the rise of feminism we see a rise in
cohabitation because most couples that choose this lifestyle are primarily feminists
and don’t like the idea of the woman being “given away” to her husband in marriage.
Although nontraditional, these challenges to the family institution
and marriage bring light to many other issues within our society that more
people should be aware of, and therefore is only helping our society as a
whole. Sociologists are always questioning things in order to further
understand how our society works and then push for change, where change is
needed. We are increasingly seeing the benefits of such actions and should look
upon ourselves to develop these qualities.
External Links:
-http://www.browndailyherald.com/2014/02/12/modern-day-marriages-explored/
-https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/me-you-us/201407/the-trouble-modern-marriage
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