Marriage, Property, and Law in Late Imperial Russia (Historical Monographs Series) Book

What an eye-opening book! It takes you through all of the history and cases that illustrate the problem with giving marriage "special rights." The author instead calls for a "valuing all families" approach that looks at the INTENT of laws to decide who should benefit from them. And I completely agree with the statement that just because you CAN marry doesn't mean you should HAVE to get married in order to have the same benefits as other people. And people should have the right to stay unmarried and "uncoupled" but still be able to choose who gets to visit them in a hospital, who gets to inherit their property, and who gets their benefits when they die. "Family" has only recently (since the 1950's) meant one married man and woman and their children. We used to be able to include parents, grandparents, and even close family friends who are not blood relations as our "family." And you shouldn't be stuck with your blood relations if you want nothing to do with them. The notion that the "nuclear" family is better than any kind of other family unit is a complete lie perpetuated by those who want to incite panic in the religious community. POVERTY is the cause of social ills, not unmarried parents.