Marriage as a Social Institution - Research Paper Example

? Cohabitation of the Sociology of the Teacher October 24, It is an undeniable fact that marriage as an social institution has been open to immense changes in the last few years and several alternative social arrangements like cohabitation had been somewhat replacing the institution of marriage in the contemporary society. In fact a large number of marriages tend to be preceded by cohabitation in the current times. However, the irony is that not even half of the cohabitation relationships tend to end in marriage. A lot of societal and demographic factors are responsible for this societal shift towards cohabitation. The stress imminent on the young marriageable people in the current times and the high divorce rates tend to be some salient reasons for this disappointment with the institution of marriage. The increasing secularization of the contemporary society and the altering social status of women are also making cohabitation an acceptable norm. However, cohabitation is an arrangement that is accompanied by some undesirable social and legal consequences. Key Words: Marriage, Divorce, Cohabitation, Secular, Gender Cohabitation There is no denying the fact that marriage, an institution that was so central to the human social organization is fast changing to give way to varied other social arrangements and norms. When an institution so pivotal to the human social experience and organization begins to fade away, at least in a relative context, it is bound to culminate into a range of varied other social possibilities and arrangements, which not being central to the human society in a historical context are bound to impinge on the society in one way or other. Indeed, cohabitation happens to be one such social arrangement. Cohabitation tends to be such social arrangement in which two people who are not married to each other happen to enter into an intimate relationship, which involves living together under one roof, engaging in emotional and sexual intimacy on a long term or permanent basis (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). It is a fact that in the current context almost sixty percent of the marriages are preceded by cohabitation, while ironically speaking not even half of the cohabitation arrangements end up in marriage (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). People tend to enter into cohabitation arrangements, motivated by a variety of reasons. For some cohabitation is a way of soliciting intimacy and sex, without being burdened by the responsibility and formality accompanying a marriage (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). There are also people who happen to live in a cohabitation arrangement with their boyfriends or girlfriends guided by the belief that living together under one roof before marriage will allow them to better understand their future life partner and thereby it will curtail their chances of divorce (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). There are couples who believe that they have achieved a level of intimacy and understanding that is not dependent on the institution of marriage and thereby chose to live in cohabitation (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). However, the thing that needs to be noted is that the concept of cohabitation does deserve a serious academic and sociological attention as it has multidimensional ramifications touching varied facets of the contemporary society are they familial, social or legal. It is a fact that the dilution of the institution of marriage and the rise in the rates of cohabitation had been a major change marking the last century. Over the past couple of decades the number of couples entering into marriage has drastically reduced while there had been a considerable rise in the number of people entering into cohabitation relationships (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). In the first half of the last century people still desisted from cohabiting as there was an immense social stigma attached to cohabitation. However, in the last two decades, the social stigma associated with cohabitation has diluted to a great extent and thereby more and more people are choosing to have a cohabitation relationship (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 2007). Though the concept of cohabitation tends to be utterly contrary to the Judaic-Christian faith and beliefs, yet in a pragmatic context, cohabitation has become socially acceptable and the society is getting more accommodating towards and accepting of the people living in cohabitation. The question that deserves the apt attention of the students of sociology is as to why cohabitation is fast becoming normal and an acceptable social arrangement? What are the factors that are leading to the proliferation of cohabitation? One big factor that is burgeoning the popularity of cohabitation is that the young career oriented people today have to deal with more stress as compared to their predecessors that led a somewhat relaxed social existence a couple of decades ago. The contemporary young people of marriageable age are required to contend with a great deal of stress emanating from multiple sources are they career, social life, family life, etc. In that context marriage is turning out to be an institution that is perceived as being loaded with a plethora of commitments, responsibilities and possibilities that have the potential to augment the stress being faced by a young person (Booth and Crouter 2006). Young people today are utterly concerned as to whether they should marry or should they enter into a more relaxed and benign emotional arrangement like cohabitation that extends all the benefits of marriage without burdening them with the formality and responsibility associated with a traditional marriage (Booth and Crouter 2006). Besides the augmenting divorce rate with more than half of the marriages ending up in divorce, the worst fears of the marriageable young people are turning out to be really true (Booth and Crouter 2006). Marriage no more stands to be as reliable and sterling an institution as it happened to be a few decades ago. Therefore, pressed by imminent stress and the lurking fears of divorce, it is but natural for the young people to live in cohabitation, without actually marrying their partners. The other thing that ought to be accepted is that cohabitation is a social trend that has not simply popped up from the blue, but is rather the outcome of the ongoing social changes. In the light of this fact, it is really true that a great section of the society is losing faith in the organized religion and the society is increasingly becoming more secular. If there was any big source of support that had hitherto bolstered the institution of marriage until now, it was the unquestioned and full backing of the organized religion for the institution of marriage (Regnerus and Uecker 2011). However, for good or for bad, the sway of the organized religion in the current times is not as ubiquitous as it happened to be a couple of decades ago. The young educated elites living in relatively secular Western societies do not consider cohabitation to be unacceptable and are really comfortable cohabiting with their partners (Regnerus and Uecker 2011). Though the organized religion still formally continues to evince a tough stand against cohabitation, yet, the reality is that its opinion does not carry an all pervasive and effective sway (Regnerus and Uecker 2011). In the increasingly modern, open and secular societies of today, cohabitation is a concept that is no more a taboo and the contemporary educated elites of the society consider it fairly normal to live in cohabitation with their partners. One simply could not help ignoring the fact that when it comes to the changes imminent of the institution of marriage, a lot could be attributed to the changing social status of the women, the altering gender associated expectations and the enhanced participation of the women in the nation’s work life (Blossfeld 2004). The modern women do have a much better access to education and career making opportunities as compared to their predecessors a couple of decades ago (Blossfeld 2004). Thereby the women today do not look towards their male partners for soliciting social security, financial sustenance and emotional well being (Blossfeld 2004). People still do engage in emotional and intimate relationships, but the change is that women today enter intimate relationships as equal partners, rather than playing a secondary or subaltern role (Blossfeld 2004). Therefore, the women today being confident and secure do not mind affiliating to cohabitation. The changed social status of the women has made them more accepting of alternate social arrangements like cohabitation. They no more look to marriage as being the sole social source of security, intimacy and recognition (Blossfeld 2004). Thereby the dwindling of the institution of marriage when compared to alternate possibilities like cohabitation has much to do with the stronger status of the women in the contemporary society. Yet, it is a fact that social institutions take much time to evolve and the replacement of a time tested and ancient social institution like marriage in favor of new possibilities like cohabitation is bound to give way to some social issues and problems. In the light of this fact it will be really pragmatic to evaluate some of the issues and problems associated with cohabitation. One big issue with cohabitation is that it has been found that the marriages that are preceded by cohabitation have been found to be more likely to end up in a divorce (Booth and Brown 1996). A lot of reasons could be attributed for this phenomenon. Perhaps the people who cohabit with their partner tend to have a relaxed and informal attitude towards their relationship. Once the cohabitation status graduates to a formal marriage, people are perhaps not able to contend with the responsibilities and solemnity associated with a marital relationship and their mutual expectations from each other aspire to be as loose and informal as they used to be when they cohabited, which eventually leads to a divorce (Brown and Booth 1996). Thereby, just because a couple cohabited before marriage is not a surety that they are divorce proof. The one other big risk associated with cohabitation is that many people who cohabit tend to remain stuck in a cohabitation mindset and end up becoming serial cohabiters, having multiple relationships (Brown and Booth 1996). Being in a cohabitation relationship for a long period of times makes many people get used to with the relaxed and informal mindset associated with cohabitation and they simply end up losing the ability to graduate to a much more intimate and somber relationship as marriage. This makes them get stuck in a cohabitation mindset and they lose the capability of leading a marital life. The other thing that needs to be considered is that marriage happened to be an institution that accorded maximum safety and security to the children. Children born of marital relationships enjoyed an automatic access to sustenance, emotional security and proper nurturing as both the parents happened to be responsible for them. However, one wonders if the same could be said of the children who are born in a cohabitation relationship. In that context cohabitation seems to be a lackadaisical social arrangement as it fails to extend security and sustenance to the children born in a cohabitation relationship, as is not a case with the children born of a marital relationship (Kennedy and Bumpass 2008). The other thing is that the legal ramifications and arrangements for the cohabiting couples are still far from being systematically codified. Though there had been many legal cases that have in a way facilitated much clarification on the legal issues imminent on cohabitation relationships, yet the thing is that cohabiting couples do not have an established and sure legal right on and responsibility for each other as is not the case with married couples. The thing is that one could not expect the clock to turn back and the society is bound to change in the light of the imminent possibilities and alterations. In that context the old social institutions like marriage are bound to somewhat lose their sway and this will see the emergence of new social institutions like cohabitation. However, in the current context, cohabitation is an option that has yet not accrued the security, surety and solidity as is attributed to the institution of marriage. References Blossfeld, Hans-Peter. 2004. The New Role of Women. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Booth, Aalan and Ann C. Crouter. 2006. Just Living Together. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Brown, Susan L., and Alan Booth. 1996. “Cohabitation versus Marriage: A Comparison of Relationship Quality”. Journal of Marriage and Family 58(3): 668-672. Kennedy, Sheela and Larry Bumpass. 2008. “Cohabitation and Children’s Living Arrangements: New Estimates from the United States”. Demographic Research 19: 1663-1669. Regnerus, Mark and Jeremy Uecker. 2011. Premarital Sex in America. New York: Oxford University Press. Thornton, Arland, William G. Axinn and Yu Xie. 2007. Marriage and Cohabitation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Outline I. Introduction II. Rising rate of cohabitation A. Fading social stigma B. Willingness on the part of people III. Yong people getting averse to marriage A. Rising stress rates B. Responsibility and formality associated with marriage C. Rising divorce rates IV. Cohabitation becoming acceptable A. Societies getting secular B. Organized religion losing its sway C. Educated elite V. Women open to cohabitation A. Women having access to education and careers B. Changing gender roles C. Women less dependent on marriage for security and sustenance V. Problems with cohabitation A. Marriages more likely to end in divorce B. Serial cohabiters C. Children D. Legal issues VI. Conclusion Read More