ABSTRACT
FOR a long time, social scientists have worked on familiar terrain, investigating the relationship between individuals and society. However, a small number of scholars have extended the scope of this investigation by considering how couples relate to society. Barbara Montgomery’s chapter provides us with one of the few comprehensive maps for this new terrain. Because her explorations are somewhat parallel to our own, we will try to provide a coherent travelogue by drawing from both explorations. Both parties want to understand how couples in close relationships are both autonomous from and connected to the larger social context. For Montgomery, the question has been how couples relate to society in general. She demonstrates how “the couple and society use communication to manage the tension between being autonomous from one another and being connected to one another” (p. 477). For us, the question has been how couples relate to kin and others over the life course of their relationships, from the time of courtship, through weddings, to placemaking (i.e., the process of setting up a home). In this work, we illustrate how the relationships within the dyad and between the couple and their kin are both relatively autonomous and connected, as reflected in the physical and social contexts of couple relationships.
