Question

Reflect upon the notion that in the future marriage may be obsolete in our society (discuss)

Answer 1

like any significan trend, there are many things shaping this -- many of which we probably do not even realize. frankly, all of us need keep that in mind. even the best analysis usually misses important issues which can not ne immediately appreciated.

that said, i think three things are pushing this trend:

1. we are just coming into an era when the economic necessity of marriage is largley obsolete. we are not there yet, and pay for women lags behind that of men, but we don't need marriage and family to sustain economically as we did for a very long time.

2. people are making lasting realtionships w/o being able to legally marry. while there is a real fight about this, the fact is that what "counts" as a marriage is being renegotiated and until that shakes out, the count will be off.

3. the momst troubling reason is that there is shrinking expectation for and reliance on the durability of most realtionships, and when that is combined with a sense that to divorce is to have failed, more and more people give up on marriage.