Multiculturalism Obedience (Milgram and the Banality of Evil) Violent and non-violent resistance (King, X, Gandhi) Marriage (Kipnis)

Test next week!

The test is worth 25% of your mark.

You will have one hour at the beginning of class.

The format will be short-answer questions and possibly a short essay. Probably three short answers and one informal essay.

You will have to answer at least one question on each topic.

Stephanie CoontzProfessor of History and Family Studies

Marriage: Then and Now

A capsule history of Western marriage

Marriage: Then and Now

Before the 1600s

Mostly upper class and used to transfer property and power

Used to establish political alliances

Keep bloodlines pure (dynasties)

1600s to 1800s (rising middle class)

Marriage becomes more common and more important

Men rule over women and children; women have no welfare outside of marriage

Men are considered inadequate and can’t get credit unless they are married

Marriage Before the 1800s

With the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, the roles that we now think of as traditional became the standard:

The man goes to work (in factory, etc)

The woman stays at home (raises children, tends vegetable garden, cooks, etc)

Meanwhile, gradually changes begin to occur that would undermine the centrality of marriage:

Social institutions such as public education, social security, etc make the family a less important factor in individual welfare

Two world wars and the dissemination of progressive thought bring women into the workforce and give them more rights

The “Traditional” Marriage 1800s – 1950s

Birth control

TV Dinners

Women’s Rights

The Sexual Revolution

Religious doctrine less powerful

Single parents more common

Divorce more acceptable

Same-sex couples

Emergence of common law

Changes starting in the 1960s

The ideal of an intimate marriage deepened some relationships but also made unsatisfying marriages more difficult to sustain.

Many people now actually demand

Courtship and Romance Sexual compatibility Shared goals Personal happiness

Gender roles have become less rigid (stay-at-home dads) and coupling is lessabout reinforcing traditional heterosexual roles.

1970s - present

Now 50% of marriages end in divorce

Alternatives to marriage are increasingly available and accepted: common law, cohabitation, single parenting

People mainly “have to” get married or stay married because of religion, their families, or “for the sake of the children”

In two-breadwinner households women as the child-bearers still often don’t get fair treatment

Half the people who get married get divorced and more than half of those who stay married say they are unhappy

“As therapist Betty Carter has commented, if any other institution in this country [the United States] was failing half the people who entered it, we would demand that the institution change to fit the people’s needs, not the other way around.”

(Human Project, p. 111)

Does the institution need to be overhauled?

Or should we just get rid of it?We’ve gotten rid of other social institutions that people once held dear or took for granted and that in many cases were sanctioned by religions and enforced by governments, but that now seem wrong or inhuman:

divine right of kings; the nobility exempted from taxation

forced religious conversion

child labour

women denied the right to vote

slavery (some would say marriage has often been a form)

Laura KipnisProfessor of Media Studies, Northwestern University

Marriage is a form of social control that enslaves not just women, but men as well.

Marriage is Made in Hell

and/or think about (not just memorize) these concepts:

Changes in Western marriage since the Middle Ages

Laura Kipnis’s arguments against marriage as an institution

Make sure you understand

1. Explain the concept of satyagraha as defined in the lecture on resistance.

2. What is the difference between segregation and separation? Who was in favour of segregation and who was in favour of separation, as explained in the lecture on resistance?

3. Laura Kipnis gives three examples of how marriage is hellish. What is one of them?

4. Kipnis ultimately wants to make a point that goes beyond marriage. What is it?

Quiz (2 marks)