Marriage

Lundberg, S., & Pollak, R. (2015). The evolving role of marriage: 1950-2010. The Future of Children, 25(2), 29-50. Since 1950, marriage behavior in the United States has changed dramatically. Though most men and women still marry at some point in their lives, they now do so later and are more likely to divorce. Cohabitation has become commonplace as either a precursor or an alternative to marriage, and a growing fraction of births take place outside marriage. Wilcox, W. B., Wolfinger, N. H., & Stokes, C. E. (2015). One nation, divided: Culture, civic institutions, and the marriage divide . The Future of Children, 25(2), 111-127. Since the 1960s, the U.S. has witnessed a retreat from marriage, marked by divorce, cohabitation, single parenthood, and lower overall marriage rates. The authors explore cultural factors that may have contributed to the retreat from marriage, as well as the growing class divide in marriage. Video Clips
The Outsourcing of Family and Community Life. Arlie Hochschild discusses her book, The Outsourced Self, in this 2012 interview; she describes how the market has impacted what she calls “intimate life (4:48). Closed Caption – The Outsourcing of Family and Community Life Marriage as a Status Symbol. Sociology professor Andrew Cherlin (2008) examines the modern status of marriage in the United States as compared to other Western countries in this 2008 video clip (2:30). Closed Caption – Marriage as a Status!
How has U.S. culture contributed to the decline in marriage?