As we begin to explore the subject of sociology, We have been looking at how sociology is more than just 'common sense', or a social science that simply validates what 'everyone already knows'. I asked you about whether living together before marriage increases a couple's chances of avoiding divorce. The 'common sense' answer is, "Yes. If a couple learns about what it's like to live together before they get married they will have less unexpected, unpleasant surprises;" or, "Yes. A couple can find out a lot more about each other when they live together first, and then decide if they want to get married." I then explained to you that sociological research did not support this conclusion. Studies found that there was actually a negative correlation between cohabitation before marriage and staying married; That is, people who lived together before marriage actually had a higher incidence of divorce. The hypothesis was that those who live together before marriage have a weaker sense of commitment than those who wait until they are married to live together.
Turn out that new research finding have recently been published that suggest that this question is far from resolved. Read the story here:
Contexts Crawler » new views on cohabitation
So, other than, "Don't believe everything your soc teacher tells you", what else can we learn from these new research findings? What social factors are at work that influence the lives of young couples? How do sociologists help us to understand the important events and decisions of our lives? How is this an example of using our 'sociological imaginations'?
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