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‘Choosing’ the Patriarchal Norm: Emerging Adults’ Marital Last Name Change Attitudes, Plans, and Rationales

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Abstract

In heterosexual marriages, women’s marital last name change is a prevalent social custom, but one that was challenged by first- and second-wave feminism. In the present study, we examined whether attitudes, plans, and rationales about marital last name change differed between men and women, and between self-identified feminists and non-feminists. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from emerging adult college students using an online survey. Women’s attitudes about name change were more egalitarian than men’s, but conformity to patriarchal norms was more evident in women’s plans than men’s plans. Women most frequently invoked tradition and family unity/commitment as rationales for name change plans, whereas men most frequently invoked tradition and social norms. Compared to non-feminists, feminists reported more egalitarian attitudes, but there were few differences in their rationales. For men only, feminists’ plans conformed less to patriarchal norms. Post-feminist ideology was evident in participants’ (particularly women’s) rationales for their name-change plans and in results indicating that attitudes about others’ name change are more egalitarian than personal plans.

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  1. Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, 53 Campus Drive, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6040, USA

    Rachel R. Stoiko & JoNell Strough

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  1. Rachel R. Stoiko
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Stoiko, R.R., Strough, J. ‘Choosing’ the Patriarchal Norm: Emerging Adults’ Marital Last Name Change Attitudes, Plans, and Rationales. Gend. Issues 34, 295–315 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-017-9183-z

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