"Sociology of Common-Law Marriage and Separate Surnames for Married Couples"

2021/10/07

This book examines issues surrounding common-law marriage and separate surnames for married couples from a sociological perspective through interviews conducted with individuals in common-law marriages.

Many of those involved are forced to choose common-law marriage to achieve "separate surnames," even though they desire legal marriage. The emergence of common-law marriage is often cited as an example of the "diversification" of families. However, there is also an aspect of this that arises due to a legal system that excludes diversity. This book re-examines the framework that views legal marriage negatively and demonstrates the importance of considering the recognition of diversity beyond the framework of legal versus common-law marriage.

Chapter 1 examines the historical transition of discourse on common-law marriage, but while gathering materials, my own assumptions were overturned. This was the premise that legal marriage doctrine is a conservative argument, while common-law marriage doctrine is a liberal one. However, from the Meiji era until the mid-1980s, common-law marriage doctrine was consistently a conservative argument, while liberal researchers advocated for the thorough implementation of legal marriage. Here, I examine what this structure—the exact opposite of the present—means and urge a reconsideration of the view that sees the law as oppressive.

The current pros and cons surrounding the elective separate surname system for married couples cannot be understood through a simple scheme like conservative versus liberal. Some support elective separate surnames because they value traditional values, while some liberals take an opposing stance because they aim to abolish the marriage system and the family register (koseki) itself. In Chapter 2, I discuss the legitimacy of the elective separate surname system by organizing the complicated arguments surrounding separate surnames and untangling their complexities.

In the final chapter, I examine the issue of "internal conflict among liberals" regarding the legalization of separate surnames and same-sex marriage. Here, I argue that liberal researchers are required not to deny the value of "family" or "marriage," but to reconstruct those values anew. In the face of the challenge of overcoming the isolation and division spreading through society, how should we resist the narrow "conservative" discourse praising the family that repeatedly emerges? I hope this book provides a clue to that end.

"Sociology of Common-Law Marriage and Separate Surnames for Married Couples"

Yuichiro Sakai

Shirasawasha

192 pages, 1,980 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and job titles are as of the time of publication.