Marriage vs. Cohabitation: A Sociological Perspective

This paper examines the benefits and disadvantages of marriage and cohabitation from a sociological perspective. It discusses the changing views on marriage, the rise of cohabitation as a prelude to marriage, and the societal factors influencing the decline in marriage rates. The paper also explores the advantages of marriage, such as social ties and enforceable trust, and the disadvantages of cohabitation, including delayed marriage and economic instability. Overall, it argues that marriage offers greater benefits to individuals compared to cohabitation.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1SOCIOLOGY
Introduction
Marriage has been identified as a religious or legal process through which individuals
grows as husband and wife, husband and husband or wife and wife, or the state of being married.
On the other hand, cohabitation has been recognized as arrangement where two individuals who
enjoy living together without involving into any religious or legal procedures of marriage.
However Lundberg, Pollak and Stearns (2016) have stated that in recent times one of the most
critical areas of concern lines on aspect related to cohabitation prior to getting involved into
marital association. The thesis statement of the following paper is “Marriage offers better
benefits to individuals when compared with cohabitation.”
Marriage
In recent times the institution of marriage has been free from diverse range of values
principles customs ceremonies along with additional expenditures of previous times. Kuperberg
(2014) has identified two important views in modern American society which states that
marriage has been distinguished as a secret agreement and where marriage is should convey joy
and happiness to the individuals who get involved into it. Lichter, Sassler and Turner (2014)
have stated that the concept of marriage as a secret agreement has been an essential part of
Christian religious traditions whereby the notion of the right to happiness in marriage has been
identified as one expression of current emphasis on individualistic satisfaction.
Cohabitation
A living relationship has been identified as an arrangement to bear heterosexual couples
habitats together without engaging into any official association called marriage. Such
relationship is commonly known as cohabitation which does not necessarily involve sexual
relations. Reports of Mourifié and Siow (2014) have revealed that individuals typically show

2SOCIOLOGY
greater amount of inclination towards cohabitation in recent times in order to evaluate the
compatibility level before entering into marital relationship. Reports of Kovačević (2017) have
further revealed that the incidence of cohabitation has recently increased among individuals since
2000. Approximately two-thirds of marriages currently have paved the way by cohabitation
between 2010 and 2019, up from one-third of marriages in the late 1990s.
Shortcomings related to marriage life
Sociological explanations for the continuing decline in marriage has involved the varying
gender roles along with the impact of feminism in addition to female empowerment, financial
factors related to the rising cost of living and the individualisation associated with
postmodernism. Furthermore, related to the ideas of Anthony Giddens, Nuru and Wang (2014)
have argued that radical decline in marriage has been due to loss of independence and growing
insecurity and uncertainty within the relationship. Studies of Ulrich Beck have argued that lesser
percentage of individuals have been inclined towards marital associations due to the increase in
‘risk consciousness’ whereby individuals perceive that nearly half of all marriages end in
divorce and are less keen to take the risk and tie the knot. Moreover, drawing relevance to
Gidden’s ideas on individualism, newly developed social norms rely greatly on individual
desires and commitments rather than engaged to social commitments (Kovačević, 2017).
Disadvantages of Cohabitation
The increased cohabitation rates in developing societies have suggested that cohabitation
tend to act critical as an alternative and prelude to marriage. However, cohabitation being a
prelude to marriage has been significantly delaying the actual timing of marriage as well as
remarriage. According to National Survey of Families and Households sample (NSFHS),
researchers have found that cohabitation tends to cause impediment to the path of marriage by

3SOCIOLOGY
rising the age at which a person first marries (Nuru & Wang, 2014). Furthermore, in 2010,
around 47% of the populace had been involved in marital associations least once, however this
percentage radically has declined to 34% with a 59% change by 2016. Moreover, Wood (2018)
has stated that cohabiting couples have been destitute economically with the lowest level of
capital among household type in comparison to families headed by a single mother.
Marriage vs. Cohabitation
Being involved in an intimate partnership, either marriage or cohabitation tends to offer
benefits which could directly act beneficial to the lives of individuals sociologically and further
influence their conditions. According to Lichter, Sassler and Turner (2014), through social ties,
partners primarily associate with each other to broader set of connections, further instilling a
sense of kinship and responsibility within both the families. Additionally, “enforceable trust”
linked to marriage has the propensity to persuade couples to put legitimate efforts on their
relationships, particularly during traumatic phases. Meanwhile, marriage primarily leads to
greater level of security and interests. Reports of Mourifié and Siow (2014) have revealed that
developing nations like US, Europe, Australia and Canada have revealed dimensions of marital
security that commonly fails to be applicable for cohabitation purposes such as emotional
support; financial stability; security for their children in addition to the comfort of being isolated
during old age. On the other hand, Lundberg, Pollak and Stearns (2016) have stated that a
pattern of "serial cohabitation" eventually develops into a severe obstruction, rather than a
prelude to marriage. Nuru & Wang (2014) have noted that if one or both members of a cohabited
couple have previously lived with someone else and the couple has been planning to get involved
in marital association, the relationship between previous cohabitation and later divorce is
especially strong. The experience of dissolve cohabiting relationships probably produces a

4SOCIOLOGY
greater willingness to suspend later relationships including marriages. Such individuals possess a
comparatively low tolerance for discontent in cohabited relations thus prefers to leave such
associations rather than learning to improve relations through differences.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be stated that marriage acts beneficial to both
individuals as cohabiters tend to attain declined level of security in their relationships.
Furthermore, cohabiters in recent times have been showing lesser propensity likely than married
couples to consider their sexual relationships as permanently exclusive. Additionally,
cohabitation eliminates the motivation to construct an enduring relationship. Although
individuals who marry do not necessarily experience events of being "happily ever after," yet
individuals who show greater inclination towards marriage rather than engaging into
cohabitation experience the greatest commencement for their children and the effective prospects
for enduring contentment.

5SOCIOLOGY
References
Guzzo, K. B. (2014). Trends in cohabitation outcomes: Compositional changes and engagement
among never‐married young adults. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(4), 826-842.
Kovačević, B. K. I. (2017). Sociology of global risk society (Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck).
Kuperberg, A. (2014). Age at coresidence, premarital cohabitation, and marriage dissolution:
1985–2009. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(2), 352-369.
Lichter, D. T., Sassler, S., & Turner, R. N. (2014). Cohabitation, post-conception unions, and the
rise in nonmarital fertility. Social science research, 47, 134-147.
Lundberg, S., Pollak, R. A., & Stearns, J. (2016). Family inequality: Diverging patterns in
marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 79-
102.
Mourifié, I., & Siow, A. (2014). Cohabitation versus marriage: Marriage matching with peer
effects. University of Toronto mimeo.
Nuru, A. K., & Wang, T. R. (2014). “She was stomping on everything that we used to think of as
a family”: Communication and turning points in cohabiting (step) families. Journal of
Divorce & Remarriage, 55(2), 145-163.
Wood, M. M. (2018). All in the family?. Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(1), 83-88.