A qualitative study of women in modern day polygamous households in the United States

Abstract

This study will show that polygamy is not a religious freedom protected under the U.S. Constitution, but a power system in which men use economic, political, social and physical force to control the behavior of others. This thesis will use a feminist perspective theory to provide a theoretical outline for investigating the association of power with the emotional and economic dependency of women within the framework of a polygamist social structure. This dependent power system is not limited to women but to their children as well.