Consumerism and Marriage

Is the influence of Consumerism evident in marriages in our society? The high rate of divorce should catch our attention. Is it possible that, whether Christian or not, many people marry because the marriage will serve his or her interests as he or she understands them at the moment? Is it possible that we have come to view commitment itself as a consumer good for us to use only so long as it serves our needs? Rodney Clapp, writes that “In the christian way of life, lifetime monogamy makes sense. In the consumer way of life, serial polygamy (a succession of mates over a lifetime) is a much more sensible practice. A high increase in divorce rates signals many things, but one of them surely is that consumption is our way of life.”[1]
[1] Rodney Clapp, “The Theology of Consumption & the Consumption of Theology” in The Consuming Passion: Christianity and the Consumer Culture, ed. Rodney Clapp (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 193.