SOC 174 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: The Great Divorce, Votum, Coverture
Document Summary
History of the u. s. family: protestant reformation (16th century, u. s. history until ~1920s. Loosened restrictions: permits closer degrees of marriage, permits remarriage for widows. Luther: marriage rises to ideal, no longer second-best: dissolution of monasteries & convents. Mortmain property of the church returns to feudal lords: english reformation starts over divorce (henry viii, anglican church establishes right to divorce, but divorce remains extremely rare until mid-19th century. The long 19th century (1776-1920: two revolutions & the family, independence provides powerful metaphors and propels legal change, family facilitates industrial revolution; industrial revolution leads to ideological changes & new gender roles. Marriage secularized: marriage changes into an institution upheld by public vows, law, and custom. Divorce becomes possible, but remains rare: fault regime, state variation, migratory divorce to divorce mills . Marriage and domination: republican metaphor: bond between spouses = bond between citizen and state, consent, representation, obedience, slavery, slavery metaphor against marriage. Marriage and slavery deny equality to all.
