Marriage and Consumerism

"Love, has been increasingly commodified with the advent and growth of capitalism and consumer culture." ( Consuming the Romantic Utopia, by Eva Illouz)

Through out the history of humankind we were and still  are questioning what is a successful marriage?

“Although the practical importance of marriage has declined, its symbolic significance has remained high and may even have increased. It has become a marker of prestige and personal achievement”. ( The deinstitutionalization of American marriage, by Andrew J. Cherlin

In the age of sophisticated technology and virtual space the humankind is still hanging on to the legally sealed an old design of marriage that is based on affection and measured by amount of material possessions.  While many struggle financially for possessions, for some the possessions might as well include spouses and children not so much for the pleasure of the relationship rather as a necessary or additional factor of successful career and marriage.  

The appropriate ages for marriage are shifting to a later stage to allow to accumulate more possessions.  However, the process of financial accumulation does not end with marriage rather evolves into a monstrous consumption.  With marriage couple enters into a new stage of the relationship where every aspect of the relationship involves massive consumption.  It starts with bridal showers and never ends rather snowball into wedding, house hunting, baby shower, vehicle shopping, preschool payments, afterschool activities…the list is only growing.           

Female is often looked upon on as a successful person only if she is engaged in a “successful” marriage.  Whereas, male success, despite the age and marital status, is often measured by his financial earnings.  In both situations, male and female forced to be involved in massive consumption to prove their success.

//My project is a photo-book that would depict modern marriage and consumerism.
It requires further research including following material:

The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism

 By Colin Campbell

The evolution of sensibility into a full-blown romanticism can be seen as following, at least in part, from the necessity of defending a philosophy of feeling against its detractors, something which placed an excessive strain upon the attempted association of the values of sincerity and propriety.

Life Without Father: Compelling New Evidence that Fatherhood and Marriage

Margaret Mead once said, with the fatherhood problem strongly in mind, that there is no society in the world where men will stay married for very long unless culturally required to do so.

Marriage, once both sacred and economically essential for survival, is today based solely on the fragile tie of affection for one’s mate.

Will You Marry Me?

Spectacle and Consumption in the Ritual of Marriage Proposals

Phillip Vannini Department of Sociology University of Victoria

http://dspace.royalroads.ca/docs/handle/10170/167