Marcia A. Zug > Quotes

“The social and cultural preference for marriage has obvious negative effects for single people, but it also harms the married. A desire to retain marriage's preferential status is on of the most cited explanations for why people remain in unhappy marriages.”
― Marcia A. Zug, You'll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love

“Black men had fewer opportunities to become wealthy and were specifically encourages, often by the US government, to look to marriage, rather than wealth, as a source of social status. The government hoped that by linking social status to black men's role as husbands and providers it could minimize its own economic responsibility for the newly free African Americans - especially for black women and children.”
― Marcia A. Zug, You'll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love

“As marriage became "proof" of black respectability, this induced many freedmen and women to marry, but it also encouraged the black community to exert pressure on those who resisted..."The colored people of this place are trying to make their colored brethren pay some respect to themselves and the laws of the country...and stop the slave style of living together without being married.”
― Marcia A. Zug, You'll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love

“If marriage were the best solution to America's economic and social problems, such marriage promotion tactics might be justified, but history has repeatedly shown it is not. At best, marriage is a Band-Aid that Americans have used when society is too sexist, too racist, or just too lazy to implement better solutions.”
― Marcia A. Zug, You'll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love

“The right of chastisement was replaced with a concern for marital harmony...non-interference in the name of marital harmony quickly became an accepted feature of the criminal justice system. Instead of punishing domestic abusers, family courts encourage reconciliation. The also insisted family conflict, including violence, should remain private.”
― Marcia A. Zug