SYG2430: Chapter 8 - Marriage and Cohabitation

Retreat from marriage started from 1980s

Marriages per 1000 unmarried women steadily decreased from 77 in 1970 to 32 in 2018; Years spent in marriage between ages 18 and 55 decreased from 29 in 1960 to 18 in 2018

Why are marriage trends decreasing?

This does not mean that people do not marry; these trends are mainly due to later marriages and frequent divorces; Among 50 year olds, more than 80% have been married at some point in their lives

Deinstitutionalization of marriage

Social norms of marriage have become weaker; Marriage after having sex, living with a partner, or even raising a child is okay; Marriage is not necessarily a lifelong commitment; More diversity and more uncertainty

Individualism

individual values are more important than family

Still many people get married because of…

Economic incentives (ex: tax benefits, insurance for married couples); Social pressure; Imitation

Rising ideal of marriage

Symbolic achievement rather than practical necessity; Higher standards for their potential spouses; Postponement of marriage is to wait till they can achieve a better marriage

Economic independence

Women’s economic independence may reduce the incentives of marriage for both women and men; However, men and women with higher income are more likely to marry than people with lower incomes; many high-earning women aim to achieve independence within marriage

Economic insecurity

People with lower incomes are not persuaded by the prospects they face; or do not find potential spouses to choose from; Poor fathers feel ashamed of their inability to meet cultural ideal of a provider husband

Marriage squeeze

imbalance between the number of males and females in the prime marriage ages

Baby boomers

Women usually marry men who are about 3 years older; A prolonged spike in birth rates from the mid-1940s through the early 1960s resulted in the shortage of men roughly since 1970s

Black women in 1970s and 1980s

Decrease in industrial manufacturing jobs in the northeast and midwest; men without college degrees had a harder time finding steady work; High rates of incarceration among urban black men in their young adult years; As a result, (poor urban) black women had fewer black men with stable jobs; Black men and women are more committed than whites to the ideal of both men and women being “good providers” to be “ready for marriage”; Blacks often delay or forgo marriage, given the reality of economic insecurity

Marriage market

Social space in which people search for potential marriage partners; Marriage is based on voluntary (and rational) decisions to improve their lives through the marital relationship; People compete to get married to spouses better prospects; Men compete to choose wives based on their potential as mothers; women compete to choose husbands for their potential earnings

Critics of marriage market

People making marriage decisions have desires that may be in conflict, such as sexual attraction and economic potential; People often make bad decisions, especially in the realm of love and romance, so we cannot assume that marriage choices are “rational”

Preference (marriage market)

People with similar backgrounds and similar cultural tastes may be more likely to be attracted to each other; Homophily, “birds of a feather flock together”

Boundaries (marriage market)

Social divisions created by cultural/traditional practices as well as structural barriers; race/ethnicity, education, religion, etc…

Endogamy

marriage and reproduction within a distinct group

Endogamy based on race/ethnicity has?

decreased

endogamy patterns across racial/ethnic groups

Strong endogamy among whites; Weak endogamy among american indians; Weak exogamy of blacks (especially black women)

Growing tendency for spouses to be matched according to education level

Among those with college education, the compatibility between husbands and wives often extends to career aspirations; Men with high earning potential now usually expect a wife to bring in her own earnings; Women usually prefer to have a career that enhances both their standard of living and their sense of independence in the marriage

Decline in religious endogamy

Mainly due to exogamy of liberal or moderate protestants; Conservative groups (ex: catholics, mormons, baptists, pentecostals) have not changed as much; Increase in intermarriage with other religious and/or racial/ethnic groups for jews and muslims

More same-sex married couples

about 543,000 households; >1% of all married couples; still limited information and datasets about these couples

Cohabitation is increasing at all levels of education

However, more common among women with less education

cohabitation not clearly defined

Occasional “off and on” depending on the ups and downs of the relationship; Informal romantic/sexual relationships do not have a clear start and end dates

Family instability among cohabiting families

Less stable and committed; About one third are dissolved in five years; 40% live with children, ⅕ live in poverty

cohabitation before marriage

Chance to experience living as a couple without making a huge commitment; Strategic decision to reduce housing costs and for convenience; “Relationship inertia”: the momentum of a less careful decision making a more important decision easier to fall into carelessly; Cohabiting relationship first and plan to marry once they have more money, especially among those with low socioeconomic status

cohabitation instead of marriage

“Marriage resistance” is relatively rare; Nontraditional couples face obstacles to marriage even when they desire to marry; A series of unstable cohabiting relationships without a marriage; Those with a history of being abused as children have difficulties in forming and maintaining intimate relationship; An alternative to marriage among the economically disadvantaged

cohabitation after marriage

Those divorced or widowed continue cohabiting relationship to avoid risk and burden from marriage; Especially when they have children from previous marriages; Easier to manage their assets; rarely pool their accounts unless they are raising young children together; Different kind of demographic squeeze due to more women than men alive

Happiness (why do we marry)

60% people think that their marriages are “very happy”; Only 3% respond “not too happy”; Only from remaining marriages; Men are happier with their marriages than women; Whites are the happiest; blacks are the least happy; People from upper social class are happier; Getting married increases happiness; Getting divorced or widowed decreases happiness; Married people are usually happier, healthier, and wealthier

Responsibility (why do we marry)

Greater responsibility makes married people behave cautiously and adopt health behaviors; Marriage gives you higher social integration and more social support

Cooperation (why do we marry)

“Specialization”: two spouses bring different skills and assets to the marriage; Even though husbands and wives have grown similar, cooperation itself brings benefits

Status (why do we marry)

Married men received higher salaries because their managers thought they deserved to be paid more; On the other hand, managers believed that married women - especially mothers - deserved lower wages; Unmarried women feel a stigma from others in their social circles or a feeling of failure and loss

Aid to families with dependent children

was criticized by conservative political activities due to its support for families without breadwinner husbands

Temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) program

Two goals: to aid poor families and encourage the formation and maintenance of two parent families (“marriage is the foundation of a successful society”); Workshops and counseling sessions to offer advice on “healthy” marriage habits; It provided two options for poor single mothers: get a job or get married; Two concerns: it may encourage people in abusive or unhealthy relationships to stay together; poverty and economic insecurity - not single parenthood - are the main problems for children; Not successful education programs did not make significant changes; in 15 years after the percentage of young adults without college degrees who are married fell from 58% to 40%

Same sex marriage

Before the 1970s, no major controversy over the gender of people getting married; In 1970s, the gay population became more visible and politically organized; but marriage was not a prominent issue until the 1990s; In 1993, president bill clinton allowed gay and lesbian recruits to join the US military; In 2013, the supreme court overturned the defense of marriage act; Marriage equality has come to symbolize tolerance and acceptance of individual choices; A growing majority is supporting same-sex marriage, except for evangelical christians and older political conservatives

Defense of marriage act (1996)

 the federal government would not recognize same-sex marriages legalized at the state level

obergefell v. hodges (2015)

the supreme court ordered all states to allow same-sex marriage