This is a groundbreaking study of our culture's obsession with weddings. By examining popular films, commercials, magazines, advertising, television sitcoms and even children's toys, this book shows the pervasive influence of weddings in our culture and the important role they play in maintaining the romance of heterosexuality, the myth of white supremacy and the insatiable appetite of consumer capitalism. It examines how the economics and marketing of weddings have replaced the religious and moral view of marriage.

This second edition includes many new and updated features including: full coverage of the wedding industrial complex; gay marriage and its relationship to white weddings and heterosexuality and demographics shifts as to who is marrying whom and why, nationally and internationally.

Reviews

"An interesting look at the institution of marriage...This book probably won't be on the must-read lists of most brides and grooms to be, but it is an interesting look at the institution of marriage. Or, rather the industry of marriage as the author emphasizes in her clear-eyed view of weddings...Ingraham, Chair of sociology at Purchase College in New York, tears away the veil of fantasy and takes a hard look at bridal magazines, religion, the garment industry, the media, and just plain capitalism, and how they all figure into this tradition."-Los Angeles Times

"Anyone who finds the idyllic ending 'And they lived happily ever after' worthy of a good eye-rolling and a dose of cynicism will savor reading Chrys Ingraham's new book, White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality inPopular Culture. Written from a sociological perspective, Ingraham 'lifts the veil' on the wedding industry and systematically rips apart the classist, racist, and heterosexist seams holding this outfit together." -- Cultural Studies
"The strength of Ingraham's works lies with her talent as a limber critic, as she always matches method to question and the personal to the political. White Weddings offers more than isolated critiques of race, class, gender, and media politics. Instead, the author fluidly integrates her arguments, showing the process by which these contexts mutually affect and confound one another through both the discursive and material practices of society's most recognized ritual." -- Cultural Studies
"An interesting look at the institution of marriage...This book probably won't be on the must-read lists of most brides and grooms to be, but it is an interesting look at the institution of marriage. Or, rather the industry of marriage as the author emphasizes in her clear-eyed view of weddings...Ingraham, Chair of sociology at Purchase College in New York, tears away the veil of fantasy and takes a hard look at bridal magazines, religion, the garment industry, the media, and just plain capitalism, and how they all figure into this tradition." -- Los Angeles Times
"A brilliant (and fun!) look at the institution/industry of marriage in the late-twentieth-century United States." -- Sojourner: The Women's Forum
"Chrys Ingraham is alarmed. We've been brainwashed, she argues in her new book White Weddings. The sociology professor writes about how weddings have more to do these days with marketing and economics than with spirituality and reality." -- Chicago Sun Times
"By looking closely at one of our society's most popular, yet unexamined, cultural rituals, Ingraham advances an understanding of the impact of the social construction of heterosexuality as a dominant institution. Anyone seeking to understand gender and sexuality as they interface with race and class in the US and what happens to those who step out of line must read this informative study." -- Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
"In this original and provocative book, Ingraham pierces the glossy surface of the wedding to reveal a logic of heterosexual domination. This is a pioneering text in the new field of critical heterosexual studies." -- Steven Seidman, author of Embattled Eros: Sexual Politics andEthics in Contemporary America
"Ingraham's topic is a fascinating one...Recommended for use in...Marriage and Family and Gender classes, as well as for your own reading pleasure. It is well-written, interesting and insightful. I learned a lot from it and I am exceedingly pleased that my students did as well." -- Contemporary Sociology
"Delicious. Chrys Ingraham is Martha Stewart's nightmare--finally! Her mission is to debunk, dethrone, and of course, defrock that blushing bride and handsome groom. For anyone who's ever wondered what the fuss is all about, White Weddings is a must read." -- Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw and My GenderWorkbook

Book Information
ISBN 9780415951333
Author Chrys Ingraham
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 560g