Chapter 7 – Marriage: From Social Institution to Private Relationship

What is the marriage gap?

a.     Where married people earn on average 26 percent more income, and they hold 35 percent more net worth

b.    Disparity in marriage rates between higher and lower income individuals

Review the subsection Legal Same-Sex Marriage. (pg. 163)

Social Institution

a fundamental component of social organization in which individuals occupying defined statues are “regulated by social norms public opinion law and religion

Marriage Premise

expectations of monogamous sexual exclusivity. By getting married partners accept the responsibility to keep each other primary in their lives and to work hard to ensure that their relationship continues

Expectations of Permanence

one component of the marriage premise according to which individuals enter marriage expecting that mutual affection and commitment will be lasting

Polygamy

a marriage system in which a person takes more than one spouse

Expectations of Sexual Exclusivity

the cultural ideal according to which spouses promise to have sexual relations with only each other

Polyamory

romantic relationships in which one or both partners retain the option to sexually love others in addition to their spouse

Swinging

a marriage agreement in which couples exchange partners to engage in purely recreational sex

Study the content on pg.170-179

Understand the content on pg. 180-183 and the perspectives (Family Decline and Family Change) researchers and policy makers have about the family

According to Dr. Sibley are the first years of marriage always the happiest in the relationship?

Please understand the definition of role-making.

Improvising a course of action as a way of enacting a role. In role-making we may use our acts to alter the traditional expectations and obligations associated with a role. This concept emphasizes the variability in the ways different individuals enact a particular role.