so what makes ‘the good marriage’? love or business as usual?

Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee end the first paragraph of their essay “The Good Marriage” by stating that “As never before in history, men and women are free to design the kind of marriage they want, with their own rules and expectations” (211). They go on to stress the changes in women’s roles and the heightened expectations of couples, and in effect they anticipate the advent of same sex marriages. So what do they mean? what are implications and/or consequences of their argument? In a research essay of roughly 5-7 pages, compare the ‘love marriage’ (what we are likely to expect today) to the more ‘traditional marriage’ of the past. how has marriage changed? has it? how is it similar? different? Before you start, consider your specific position, which could be as obvious and/or audacious as discussing same sex marriage in relation to the ‘traditional’ practice, or you could discuss the effect of Internet matchmaking sites on marriage. You should consider a variety of examples ranging from the effect of shared responsibility of child-rearing to income equality between spouses. You might even consider an interpretation of our class reading of Romeo and Juliet to reflect upon this conflict. Support your position with specific examples taken from your research. so what do experts say? the social scientists? How does that jibe with your own thinking? MLA CITATIONS AT THE END