| Divorce touches nearly everyone's life today. Most of the research on divorce has focused upon the implications of divorce for those who divorce or the children of divorce. However, because of high divorce rates in recent decades, we are also touched by divorce as friends, siblings, parents, or co-workers. Furthermore, most of the divorce research has examined the economic, legal, and psychological implications of divorce rather than cultural meanings. Finally, the association between rising divorce and fluctuating gender relations has not been adequately examined from a cultural perspective. To address these gaps in the research, this dissertation analyzed the cultural meanings of divorce and gender for matched, married couples from two generations.;Part I, "The Changing Marital Context," reviews the social context underlying changing practices and meanings associated with marriage and divorce. Historical, economic, demographic, and social indicators suggest that since the 1970s we have witnessed the emergence of what I call "divorce culture." This newer marital ideology, "divorce culture," challenges an older marital ideology, "marriage culture." I found that the contestation between these marital ideologies is reproduced in popular culture and in spouses' discourse.;I selected couples marrying before and after what I designate as a 1970s "tipping point" in divorce rates, when half of all marriages contracted were projected to end in divorce. Part II provides an in-depth analysis of longitudinal, archival interviews with twenty-four older spouses (married in the 1950s). Part III provides an in-depth qualitative analysis of my interviews with thirty-four younger spouses (married in the 1970s). While spouses in the older generation register the rise of divorce culture and gender equality over the decades, they are more likely to maintain a belief in the male dominance and sustain the terms of marriage culture. In contrast, the younger generation assert equality and reproduce divorce culture even as they aim for marital endurance and confront inequality. I argue that the meaning of marriage and divorce has changed for all, but more for the young than the old, and more for wives than husbands. Ultimately, a breach between genders sustains divorce culture. |
