Summary of an article

Reading Response: Belinda Luscombe Belinda Luscombe explored the modern perspective of marriage in her article for Time magazine e d, Who Needs Marriage? A Changing Institution. She tried to answer the question why many people are increasingly seeing marriage as no longer necessary, particularly on the heels of a PEW Research Center survey that found that marriage is losing its social, spiritual and symbolic appeal.
Luscombe focused on the economic factor in her arguments. She observed that wealth has been central to the changing dynamics of marriage since the 1960s. The author felt that it has been important for people for practical reasons, stressing that, in the past, if one is married, chances are he or she is well-off. She then cited the issue of education. The trend identified was that there are more women graduating in college than men and that their career trajectory runs parallel with the growth of the knowledge economy. What this means, for Luscombe, is that women (who claims a big part in keeping the partnership strong) are no longer dependent on marriage because of their financial independence. She pointed out that two-thirds of divorces were initiated by wives.
Finally, Luscombe concluded that marriage as the ultimate ” merit badge” for successful personal life is no longer true. She argued that more and more people found that those things that can make them happy like sex life, companionship and children could all be achieved outside of the wedlock.
All in all, Luscombe was quite persuasive with her arguments. She cited solid evidences to back her points. However, she fails to comprehensively address the marriage issue. She has recognized that it is an institution and, certainly, it takes more than money or economics to erode how people perceive it. While it is valid to say marriage is losing its appeal, it is important to cover all dimensions in explaining such phenomenon.