Marriage markets : how inequality is remaking the American family

Resource Information

The work Marriage markets : how inequality is remaking the American family represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Austin Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

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Label

Marriage markets : how inequality is remaking the American family

Title remainder

how inequality is remaking the American family

Statement of responsibility

June Carbone and Naomi Cahn

Creator

• trueCarbone, June

Contributor

• trueCahn, Naomi R

Subject

• trueFamily relationships
• trueSocial classes -- United States
• trueUnited States -- Social conditions
• trueWorking class
• Working class -- Economic aspects -- United States
• Domestic relations -- United States
• trueEquality
• trueEquality -- United States
• trueFamilies -- Economic aspects
• trueFamilies -- Economic aspects -- United States
• trueFamily law
• trueMarriage -- Economic aspects
• Marriage -- Economic aspects -- United States
• trueSocial classes

Language

eng

Summary

• "There was a time when the phrase "American family" conjured up a single, specific image: a breadwinner dad, a homemaker mom, and their 2.5 kids living comfortable lives in a middle-class suburb. Today, that image has been shattered, due in part to skyrocketing divorce rates, single parenthood, and increased out-of-wedlock births. But whether it is conservatives bewailing the wages of moral decline and women's liberation, or progressives celebrating the result of women's greater freedom and changing sexual mores, most Americans fail to identify the root factor driving the changes: economic inequality that is remaking the American family along class lines. In Marriage Markets, June Carbone and Naomi Cahn, co-authors of the acclaimed Red Families v. Blue Families, examine how macroeconomic forces are transforming our most intimate and important spheres, and how working class and lower income families have paid the highest price. Just like health, education, and seemingly every other advantage in life, a stable two-parent home has become a luxury that only the well-off can afford. The best educated and most prosperous have the most stable families, while working class families have seen the greatest increase in relationship instability. Why is this so? This book offers a new answer: it is due to the economics of marriage markets, and of how men and women match up when they search for a life partner. For instance, when eligible (i.e., desirable and marriageable) men outnumber eligible women, the marriage and marital stability rates are significantly higher than when the reverse situation occurs - the exact situation we have in America today. The failure to see marriage as a market affected by supply and demand has obscured any meaningful analysis of the way that societal changes influence culture. Only policies that redress the balance between men and women through greater access to education, stable employment, and opportunities for social mobility can a culture that encourages commitment and investment in family life. A rigorous and enlightening account of why American families have changed so much in recent decades, Marriage Markets cuts through the ideological and moralistic rhetoric that drives our current debate and offers real insight into-and solutions for-a problem that will haunt America for generations to come"--
• "June Carbone and Naomi Cahn examine how macroeconomic forces are transforming marriage, and how working class and lower income families have paid the highest price"--

Tone

• trueThought-provoking

Writing style

• truePersuasive

Assigning source

• Provided by publisher
• Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

306.850973

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction