Through a Glass, Darkly: U.S. Marriage Discourse and Neoliberalism

Abstract

This article draws together research insights on marriage in the U.S. to argue that over the last 40 years we are able to see an active engagement with neoliberalism in discussions on the subject. Using discourse analysis, I consider how the underlying assumptions that inform the key concepts of autonomy, individualism, responsibility, and universality have been re-semanticized through neoliberal ideology to change the ways that Americans think of marriage (and themselves). In light of these changed assumptions, this article urges a reexamination of the activism and identity politics around marriage as well as further academic research on the topic.

Keywords:

• autonomy
• class
• covenant marriage
• discourse analysis
• economic
• family
• gay
• gay marriage
• governance
• heterosexuality
• homosexuality
• individualism
• individualization
• language
• lesbian
• marriage
• neoconservatism
• neoconservative
• neoliberal ideology
• neoliberalism
• responsibility
• resemanticization
• same-sex marriage
• self-governance
• straight
• transgender
• United States
• universality
• welfare

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge Drs. William Leap and Denis Provencher for their helpful comments on early drafts of this work and for their unwavering support during my doctoral studies. This work would not have been possible without the generous support of the Point Foundation and the American University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dissertation Research Fellowship. The ideas found in this article were developed during a discussion session I organized for the 2008 Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference XV entitled, “A Shell Game: Lavender Languages and Neoliberal Rhetoric.” I am grateful for the opportunity provided by this conference to explore the intersection of LGBT issues, sexuality, gender, and language as the insights fostered there continue to be novel, timely and important.

Notes

1. See also Brenner and Theodore (2002), Harvey (2005), Kawai (2009), and Ong, (1999, 2006, 2007).

2. I do not purport to exhaust the multiple discourses on marriage in a country as large and as diverse as the United States. Instead, I focus on certain instances where neoliberal ideology informs some popular discourses on marriage. I welcome analyses conducted with various groups to produce different examples of how this works.

3. Interestingly, when San Francisco allowed the marriages of LGBT couples under Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004, the only change to the clerk's system of filing these marriages was a degendering of the marriage certificate form that couples complete prior to being married at City Hall. The alteration erased “husband” and “wife” and replaced it with “first applicant” and “second applicant.”