Traditional Inequalities and Inequalities of Tradition: Gender, Weddings, and Whiteness

Julia Carter

doi:10.1177/1360780421990021

Abstract

The (British) white wedding offers a unique lens for studying a number of social and cultural phenomena from practices of intimacy, consumption, and romance to macro level studies of economics, value, and exchange. The wedding also represents an ideal focus for studying the intersection of intimacies and inequalities as it acts as a location for the practice and performance of intimacy which simultaneously encapsulates historical and contemporary gender, race, and class inequalities. These inequalities are often upheld, celebrated even, in the name of ‘tradition’ in relationships, marriage, and weddings. This article aims to interrogate this notion of tradition to understand how, rather than being a neutral concept, it is used to reproduce and reinforce existing gender inequalities, middle-class values, and privileging of Whiteness. The argument in this article draws on 3 years of research on weddings including interviews and ethnographic observations. I conclude that while wedding traditions may have become increasingly reflective of democratic choices, they retain traditional inequalities in their representation and conceptualisation.

Highlights

Central to debates around the de- or re-traditionalisation of intimate life is, ironically, the notion of ‘tradition’
The aim of this article is to interrogate this term through its contextual use in British weddings in order to better understand how ‘tradition’ can be both static and fluid and how it can inspire both radical change and stagnating norms
Contrary to theorists of detraditionalisation and individualisation, many family researchers agree that continuity in family practices

Summary

Introduction

Central to debates around the de- or re-traditionalisation of intimate life is, ironically, the notion of ‘tradition’. I want to explore how using the notion of ‘tradition’ in connection with weddings legitimates wedding orthodoxy, upholding inequalities and obscuring the (re)production of heteronormative gender roles, middle-class respectability, and racialised Whiteness.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion