Honors Theses
Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Croft Institute for International Studies
First Advisor
Jody Pavilack
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Chile is a country of many contradictions, and these contradictions lead to a great chasm between the needs of the people and the way in which the government tries to provide for those needs. Many of the policies and laws are in line with the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and these policies play an interesting role in the social landscape of the country. They create an environment in which the general population does not live in a manner that corresponds to the way that the Church claims they do. Therefore, the law based on Catholic doctrine often creates a space that hinders rather than helps the people (both Catholics and non-Catholics). The purpose of this investigation is to identify this space and how exactly this institutionalized hypocrisy, particularly in relation to the absence of a divorce law, affects the Chilean population. To achieve this purpose, I looked at Chile’s Marriage Code and the ways that it affected Chilean society. Until March of 2004, Chile was one of the last three countries in the world to not permit divorce. In the twentieth century, there were twelve unsuccessful attempts to pass a bill that would legalize divorce, four of which transpired in the 1990s. Only by the thirteenth proposal did proponents of the divorce bill finally meet success. The Catholic Church’s opposition remained strong, despite polling results. which indicated that over 70% of Chileans supported the passage of the proposed law since the late 1990s. This research was primarily Internet based due to the distant location of the country in question and the fact that, at the time the research was conducted, the debate over the divorce law had not yet been settled, and therefore there were not yet many studies completed regarding the issue. To analyze the effects of the lack of a divorce law, I first explained Chile’s Marriage Code as it stood before March of 2004. I then outlined both sides of the debate, focusing on who supported and who opposed the proposed bill, the methods they used to support their position, and the reasons they took their chosen position. Finally, I examined certain statistical information pertaining to the actual state of the Chilean family, comparing that state with the image of the family put forth by the Church. I found that the Church’s idea of the family did not match the reality of the situation, and that in fact, for various reasons, the absence of a divorce law probably had adverse effects on the Chilean family. The conclusion of this research was that the passage of the divorce law will make positive changes in Chilean society and Chilean families.
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Amanda Faye, "Institutionalized Hypocrisy: Divorce and Politics in Chile, 1884-2004" (2004). Honors Theses. 2237.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2237
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