The meaning of marriage: Professor Eleanor Gordon

Issued: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 12:42:00 BST

Professor of Social and Gender History Eleanor Gordon is leading a new Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research project, which is investigating the changes in working class families and marriage from 1855 to 1976.

‘The project will plug a huge gap in our understanding of the cultural and social history of Scotland,’ explains Professor Gordon. ‘In the current political debates taking place about the breakdown of the traditional family, there is a lot of misinformation and ignorance about the past. All the talk about this assumes that families in the past were stable units, based around the core nuclear family, and of course that simply wasn’t the case.’ 

The project will look at the history of courtship practices, the reasons why people marry, the nature of marital relationships, and the breakdown of marriage in the Scottish working classes. Bounded by two landmark legislations – the introduction of civil registration in Scotland in 1855 and the introduction of no fault divorce in 1976 – the project will examine how the balance between practical considerations, economic considerations, status, and love, has changed in working class marriages over time. It will span the country geographically as well as historically, looking at families and marriages from urban, industrial, rural and island areas.

Strong collaborations with non-academic groups are an essential part of the project. The Centre for Research and Family Relationships is a key partner organisation and a joint conference is planned to involve practitioners and policymakers. The Glasgow researchers also have links with Scottish Women’s Aid and Teaching and Learning Scotland, and plan to disseminate their findings to a wide audience.

‘We would like to show that the history of family and marriage is much more complex than contemporary commentators and politicians tend to suggest,’ concludes Professor Gordon. ‘If we are going to address current problems, we have to have a sound knowledge of the history to inform policymaking. In order to understand the present better you have to go back to the past.’

The University’s Centre for Gender History has one of the largest research groups of its kind in this field, with 12 gender historians who cover the range of history from medieval times through to the modern day.