SOCS315 Week 3 You Decide
DeVry University
Jeremy and Marietta both have different concepts of what marriage is supposed to be. Most of the times when people of different backgrounds decide to marry, it becomes very important that they communicate extensively about what their two views of marriage are, and then they must decide whether or not they are willing to consider the other person's ideas in order to form a lasting union that will include elements of both views.
In most cultures, marriage has four major components:
1) There must be economic cooperation between the two involved.
2) There is an expectation that this relationship will be enduring
3) There must be normative sexual relations and childbearing
4) It must be legally sanctioned according to the definition of marriage that exists in the country in which they decide to live.
(Macionis, J, 2000, p 208)
However, the experiences of Jeremy and Marietta with marriage are very different. Marietta feels strongly that marriage is forever, but Jeremy went through a very painful and financial divorce. Marietta feels that a legal piece of paper should not decide separating monetary, emotional, or family issues, and Jeremy no doubt felt the same way with his first marriage, because he did not have a prenuptial agreement then, but the pain of his experience has caused him to rethink this position. Marietta feels that morals, values and ethics should be followed in a marriage, but Jeremy has discovered that these cannot be enforced when one or both persons involved decide that they do not want to follow them.
This is the view of Marietta:
She feels that she would not want to enter into this type of agreement because she feels that the strength of their morality, their desire to make and keep promises to one another, and the values with which they have been raised are sufficient to keep the marriage together without written legal obligations.
She fears...