IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v25y2020i3p438-455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Tradition: Marital Name Change in Britain and Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Duncan

    (University of Bradford, UK)

  • Anne Lise Ellingsæter

    (University of Oslo, Norway)

  • Julia Carter

    (University of the West of England, UK)

Abstract

Marital surname change is a striking example of the survival of tradition. A practice emerging from patriarchal history has become embedded in an age of detraditionalisation and women’s emancipation. Is the tradition of women’s marital name change just some sort of inertia or drag, which will slowly disappear as modernity progresses, or does this tradition fulfil more contemporary roles? Are women and men just dupes to tradition, or alternatively do they use tradition to further their aims? We examine how different approaches – individualisation theory, new institutionalism, and bricolage – might tackle these questions. This examination is set within a comparative analysis of marital surname change in Britain and Norway, using small qualitative samples. We find that while individualisation and new institutionalism offer partial explanations, bricolage offers a more adaptable viewpoint.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Duncan & Anne Lise Ellingsæter & Julia Carter, 2020. "Understanding Tradition: Marital Name Change in Britain and Norway," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(3), pages 438-455, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:25:y:2020:i:3:p:438-455
    DOI: 10.1177/1360780419892637
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780419892637
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1360780419892637?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon Duncan, 2011. "Personal Life, Pragmatism and Bricolage," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 129-140, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jane Ribbens McCarthy & Val Gillies, 2018. "Troubling Children’s Families: Who Is Troubled and Why? Approaches to Inter-Cultural Dialogue," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 23(1), pages 219-244, March.
    2. Ann Berrington & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Paulina Trevena, 2015. "Commitment and the changing sequence of cohabitation, childbearing, and marriage," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(12), pages 327-362.
    3. Sarah Milton & Kaveri Qureshi, 2022. "Reclaiming the Second Phase of Life? Intersectionality, Empowerment and Respectability in Midlife Romance," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 27-42, March.
    4. Julia Carter, 2017. "Why Marry? The Role of Tradition in Women's Marital Aspirations," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(1), pages 1-14, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:25:y:2020:i:3:p:438-455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.