ABSTRACT
Prior to formulating an argument (to which we will return) that the obligations created by marriage constitute a human good, Scott Fitzgibbon asserts that 'the twentieth century brought a crisis of obligation'.2 He cites little evidence for
* Pembroke College, St Aidâtes, Oxford OX1 1DW, England ** Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2ER, England
this proposition, but the sentiment is common enough. Gilles Lipovetsky has referred to the alleged phenomenon as 'le crépuscule du devoir'* and Zygmunt Batimán has described postmodern sociality as one which 'knows not and hears not of rights, obligations, contracts or legal entitlements'.5 The Culprit' (if such there be) for this state of affairs is said to be the rise of 'individualism'. Thus, in 1985, Robert Bellah and colleagues6 identified 'individualism' as 'the first language in which Americans tend to think about their lives', leading them to value 'independence' and 'self-reliance' above all else.7 For these authors, individualism seems to denote a kind of self-centred indulgence, to be contrasted with a disposition towards 'commitment' and recognition of 'obligations'. But it is not so simple. Some writers have argued that the sense of obligation to others has been replaced by a sense of obligation to oneself to live a authentic life.8 In a more complex analysis, Giddens in 19929 and Beck and Beck-Gernsheim in 1995,10 drawing on a wide range of contemporary literature (in Giddens' case, especially psychoanalytical discourses), developed a more complex version. According to Giddens:
from the relationship are subject to negotiation.12 Even sexuality is a matter of negotiation, whether it be the matter of sexual exclusivity, or even the nature of the sexuality itself.13 Beck and Beck-Gernsheim describe the same phenomenon. They call it, creating a 'do-it-yourself life history'.14 In daily life, 'more and more things have to be negotiated, planned, personally brought about'.15 The organization of life after divorce 'has to be negotiated, often fought over'.16
