Marriage in the West. is Becoming a Thing of the Past

[Guest guest]

Dear prabhus,

 

India this, India that. It's hard to get any meaningful statistics on marriage

and family life in India, but we have some on the United States. I posted the

following article on Topical Discussions, but so far no one has commented.

Family life is a mess in the U.S. Just imagine what it would be like if it was

burdened with the rampant poverty of India. The fact that India can hold

together a civil society in spite of her hardships says alot about the quality

of its social infrastructure. India's society is undoubtedly a heavily tainted

offspring of the original Vedic culture, but it's far better than the purely

hedonistic societies of Western countries such as the United States.

 

One more comment: Before we go and find the many faults of contemporary India,

let's look in our own backyards. The track record for marriages in ISKCON is

abysmal. It's to the point where, when my wife visits a temple she hasn't been

to for years, devotees are genuinely surprised she's still with the same

husband. I don't think this is the result of trying accept the values of Vedic

culture (what to speak of Krishna Consciousness). Seems to me it comes from

holding onto the selfish values of our materialistic forebears.

 

Hard to compare marriage in India with marriage in the West if, in the West,

it's becoming a thing of the past.

 

Please read on.

 

 

 

Your servant,

 

Pancha Tattva dasa

 

 

 

Two-Parent Families Growing Scarcer - U.S. Study

 

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The traditional U.S. household comprised of a married

couple with children has become scarcer, a reflection of more women working

and a view that marriage is not always desirable, researchers said on

Wednesday.

 

The most common living arrangement in the United States consists of unmarried

people and no children, which made up one-third of all households in 1998,

double the percentage in 1972.

 

Meanwhile, the traditional nuclear family -- a married couple with children --

made up 26 percent of households in 1998, down from 45 percent in 1972,

according to a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the

University of Chicago.

 

Timothy Smith, director of the survey, attributed the trend to more women in

the work force, driven there by economic necessity and a desire for a career,

and a relaxation of social mores that frowned on cohabitation and on having

children outside marriage.

 

``Marriage has declined as the central institution under which households are

organized and children are raised,'' Smith said, noting the survey found that

62 percent of working-class adults reported being married in the 1994-98

period, down from 80 percent in the 1972-77 period.

 

``People marry later and divorce and cohabitate more. A growing proportion of

children has been born outside of marriage. Even within marriage the changes

have been profound as more and more women have entered the labor force and

gender roles have become more homogenous between husbands and wives,'' Smith

said.

 

Both parents have jobs in two-thirds of families, compared to just one-third

in 1972, the survey found. The percentage of households in which women worked

while their husbands stayed at home rose to 4 percent in the 1990s from 2

percent in the 1970s.

 

About half of children now live in a household with their original parents,

down from nearly three-quarters of children living in such households in 1972.

 

 

Parents' attitudes toward their children have changed as well, with more

looking for them to take responsibility for themselves. For example, more

parents listed hard work as a desirable trait in their children above

obedience.

 

The survey comprised interviews with 2,832 randomly selected adults.

 

 

 

On 25 Nov 1999, Christopher Shannon wrote:

 

> If by quoting statistics, by editing these things out of Srila Prabhupada's

> books (or annotating them into irrelevance), you try to cover Srila

> Prabhuapda's desire for his disciples to take up Vedic culture, then you are

> doing a great disservice.

>

> Your servant, Krishna-kirti das

>

> p.s. New articles at www.ghqd.org :

>

> "The Myth of Equal Rights", by Sri and Srimati Jivan Muktaji

>

> Table of Contents http://ghqd.org/articles/toc.htm

>

> Introduction http://ghqd.org/articles/intro.htm

>

> Section 1 Parts 1-4 http://ghqd.org/articles/1.htm