I chose to research the topic of marriage disposability. While first researching for this project I wanted to learn about the disposability of children, but shortly after beginning the search I discovered the topic of marriage and felt as if that would be a more appropriate and more interesting topic to cover. I learned so much about marriage that I would have never even known if I didn’t write this paper. A majority of the major points are shown throughout my writing but there are still quite a few facts that could not be put into the paper, however that information will stick with me for a long time.

Until Divorce Do Us Part
Up until recently, marriage has been an important part of society. People twist and morph the concept of marriage so much that they start to see it as disposable in today’s culture. Society has turned marriage into a complicated way of life, it makes it harder to see the opportunities and obstacles that it presents. Back in history, people contained a much better understanding of these values but as the years moved by, ideas changed. Another thing that has changed through the years, is the reason for marriage. People in today’s culture see marriage in a much different light than a few years ago. To further help explain how marriage falls into the disposable category, just look at the outcomes of divorce. Currently, marriage disposability demonstrates itself through the history that it presents, the effects of modern society, the reasons for marriage, it also shows through the statistics and the outcomes that come from divorce.
Years ago, people created many of their own values and beliefs about marriage that ended up distracted them from seeing the disposability. People today must experience a weaker foundation in their marriages then people back then, Jessie Knadler recognizes this in her article titled, “Is Five Years the New Forever?” She wanted to share her insights with others by bringing the history of marriage into the spotlight, “Once upon a time, couples got hitched for reasons other than love, and no matter how unromantic it sounds, those factors helped marriages last.” People today just aren’t tying the knot as much. In fact, “In 1960, only one in 10 adults in the United States, ages 25 and older, had never been married. According to a 2014 Pew Center survey, that number is now one in five adults —a full 42 million people” (Remund 9). The culture that people lived in many years ago allowed and even banned different objects and ideas than ours does today, giving them an element of carefulness. In the current world, people tend to head their own ways and not worry about the effects of their actions. They make split second decisions based on being caught up in the moment, marrying because they feel that “in love” sensation. Prior to today’s generation, people needed to know specifics before tying the knot. Stephanie Coontz wrote an article titled, “The Origins of Modern Divorce” to help people grasp the idea of what marriage persisted of years ago. As a matter of fact, “People married to acquire influential in-laws, effect business mergers, raise capital, improve their social status, seal military alliances, or expand their family labor force. Romantic love was not unknown in the past, but it was not closely linked to marriage” (8). The element of quick, emotional decision making was not their intent in marriage. Also in the article referenced above, the topic of religion’s effect on marriage is covered. In the past religion has seemed like a huge factor towards marriage, “Protestant and Catholic theologians advised couples to marry someone whom they could learn to love and warned that even after marriage, too much love was a form of idolatry that should be avoided” (8). This also helps people not to make those quick decisions because if they marry only for love, that will consume them and they will loose sight of the opportunities available through marriage. The history and religion pieces of marriage hold the aspect of change throughout the years.
Moving into more modern times, the age of couples that participate in holy matrimony has also changed. People don’t jump at the opportunity to marry because it no longer poses as a priority, “In the early 1980s, the median age for marriage was 22 for women and 25 for men. As of 2011, those median ages are now 27 and 29, respectively” (Remund 9). Over the years, people continue to move further away from the idea of marriage because they want to achieve success on their own and experience other commodities that hold precedence over marriage. Not only do people taking longer to marry, but the likelihood of them lasting is diminishing. People aren’t taking the tradition of marriage seriously because they see people jumping in and out of relationships effortlessly and that advertises a disposability that transfers into people’s minds. Study results show that, “40 percent of marriages end in divorce today, compared with 20 percent in 1960” (Knadler). Since ideas and beliefs constantly change over time, people must face the fact that the past times of marriage and starting a family may no longer apply to modern life.
After looking at marriage in older times, seeing how marriage has adapted in today’s society supports the idea of marriage disposability. In an article titled “Headed to the Chapel?” David Remund talks about people who head down the path of marriage and he states that “Being married is simply less common these days” (9). The world constantly undergoes change, yes, but why is it that people don’t marry? Nothing has changed in the basic foundation of marriage, it exists simply as a relationship with the opposite sex, or a partner, that is recognized by the law. In that same article, Remund talked about a 2014 Pew Center survey that discussed marriage and people’s thoughts about the legal contract, “Pew found that single people, by and large, do not feel that getting married would benefit them” (9). It seems that the whole world has opinions against marriage, however groups of people still see the importance and do participate in the ceremony. If people still participate in marriage then why is it being portrayed as disposable? Looking back at Knadler’s article, she says that “Many young couples are bailing out of marriages that are barely beyond the honeymoon phase.” People abandon the work involved in the commitment, making marriage seem irrelevant. They don’t want to work hard at their marriages anymore because they see how easily they can change, they aren’t acknowledging that it’s actually a lifetime commitment.
Many people across the United States retain different opinions but some try exponentially hard to make their opinion known and to help people see the responsibility that marriage requires. August 15, 1997 arose to quite the historical date, it unfolded that a movement was taken to change the image that marriage expressed. The community required citizens to choose between two different types of marriage to help them realize the importance in the step they endured taking. They gave two choices for newlyweds, a standard marriage or a covenant marriage. The first option allows a bit more lenience, “the standard marriage with virtually unrestricted access to no-fault divorce” while the second comes across a bit more strict, “a covenant marriage designed to be somewhat harder both to enter and to exit.” (Nock, Wright, and Sanchez 43). While the Louisiana community works to fix marriages, others tear it down- not giving it the respect and importance that it deserves. People simply downgrade the truth of what marriage means. One of the reasons that people aren’t marrying remains that they think it’s possible to achieve the same benefits outside of marriage, that they could inside.
Next, taking a closer look at the reasons for marriage after already looking at the history of marriage and how it has changed because of today’s society may make the the disposability of marriage more obvious. In an article by Marlene Wasserman about the relationship recognition that takes place with marriage, she states that people rarely contain any idea what to expect during the first stages in marriage “The reasons why people marry vary from making public declarations of love, forming a family unit, legitimizing sexual relations and procreation, providing a means of legal social and economic stability, to providing for the education and nurturing of children” (157). People obtain different ideas of why to marry and the changing times impact them. In her previously mentioned article, Knadler discusses many of the reasons that people decide to walk down the isle. She, as well as society, provide an endless list that may not apply to every individual because different people hold different preferences. However, while some posses varying reasons for marriage, others do it for the wrong reasons. Often times people live together before they marry, so when they reach a certain amount of time together they feel obligated to tie the knot even though they may not be ready. For example, “Research shows that couples who do so before marrying have a 50 percent greater chance of getting divorced than those who don’t.” They already live around each other most of the time so it just easiest for them to marry because their schedules consist of the same activities. They think that because their lives coexist, they acquire the skills needed for the challenges marriage will throw at them. She also says that because of the influence of others around them, people feel obligated to apprehend the task of marriage. Seeing people displaying happiness in a relationship and success in marriage increases other’s desires to obtain the same. People constantly walk down the isle and those who aren’t feel moved to do so as well- it’s just one additional thing to cross of their life to-do list. One final reason that she covers in her article shows that people, mostly women, occupy this desire for a big fancy wedding and to “be the shining centerpiece of it all.” They see that the culture around them demands the biggest and the best, so they continuously try to achieve those rising standards, one of those ways pulls attention to their weddings. They want to attain a safe environment to start off their new relationship and for that reason, “Marriage may be a safe haven for some; it may provide mutual support, pleasure and validation” (Wasserman 158). After it’s completely said and done, people may marry simply because they want to feel at home with someone.
Eventually, moving from the reasons for marriage to the outcomes from the failure of marriage, it becomes clear that divorce possesses a type of domino affect that spreads the disposability of marriage even further. A group of family sociologists led a study about the patterns of divorce and the effects it would place on the children in that divorce. They talked to a group of college students at the University of California, Berkeley who experienced the effects of a divorce somewhere in their lives- whether from a grandparents, parents, aunts, or uncles. Then, while keeping that information in mind, the sociologists found out the status of the college students current relationships. In particular, they looked at if those who felt the direct affects of a divorce proved more likely to be drawn toward others who experienced the same situation. Of the girls without divorced parents, 15.4% maintained a steady relationship with a boy who’s parents underwent a divorce. Of the girls with divorced parents, 17.2% held a relationship with a boy who’s parents experienced divorce. Now to compare with the males, of the boys without divorced parents, 14.5% maintained a steady relationship with a girl who’s parents experienced divorce. Of the boys with divorced parents, 13.2% held a relationship with a girl who’s parents underwent a divorce. From just this one study we can pick out particular patterns in divorce. However, to see the marriage possibilities from these students, another statistic can give more insight (Landis 214).
The sociologists who conducted the research asked a few other questions, one of which focused on the college students who already married. 106 married students maintained contact with the sociologists for research. To start off, of the 54 women who came from non-divorced homes 29.6% of them married men who came from divorced home. The other 12 women they talked to came from divorced homes and 25% of them married men from divorced homes. Next to recognize the men, 33 of them came from non-divorced homes and 12.1% of them ended up marrying women from divorced homes. The remaining 7 men came from divorced homes and 14.3% of them married women from divorced homes. So this particular piece of data showed that women who come from a non-divorced house proved more likely to marry a man from a divorced house and just the opposite occurs for men, the ones who came from divorced homes proved more likely to marry women from similar situations. This article gave some great insights to how divorce affects marriages within America’s culture and allows enough knowledge to find additional patterns within the data (Landis 216).
In conclusion, people twist and morph the concept of marriage so much that they start to see it as a disposable part of today’s culture. Society has turned marriage into a complicated way of life, it proves harder to see the opportunities and obstacles that it presents. Throughout this paper it prevailed that marriage disposability survived through the history that it presents, the effects of modern society, the reasons for marriage, it also illustrated disposability through the statistics and the outcomes originating from divorce.

Works Cited
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