from The Independent: A new book claims that a shopping trip to Ikea improves marital harmony.
Great Ikea! A Brand for All the People, published later this month, attributes much of the store’s success to the fact that its self-assembly furniture allows men to reclaim their hunter-gatherer roots, and so keep their relationships healthy – by demonstrating to their wives and children that they are capable of masculine tasks.
Relate, the relationship guidance charity, said shopping was a major source of conflict for couples, although improving their home environment was a way of increasing domestic harmony.
“My experience of couples visiting Ikea is that it has caused a great deal more arguments and frustrations,” said Denise Knowles, a marriage counsellor for Relate, who is not a fan of Ikea.
“In a sanitised world, about the only way people can show the practical side of themselves is through DIY. But I think that it is more about improving their environment. That is why places like Ikea work for families.”
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The book presents an interesting contrast with the viewpoint of “Fight Club”–when Edward Norton’s character used the IKEA-esque furniture in his apartment to talk about how emasculated his generation of men had become.