What is the cause of marriage rates decline?

Gerard Locus

SOCI 4385: Theoretical Perspective and Applications

FALL 2010
 What is the cause marriage rates decline?

 To understand the cause of marriage decline, it is important to recognize factors that

contribute to its occurrence and continuance. Though such factors are numerous such as: mass

media images, declining religiosity, unequal rate of college attendance, declining job

opportunity, cohabitation, and female independence movement, it can be broken down to really a

few to grasp the bigger picture of what’s occurring.

This paper will be broken down into two sections. The first section with introduce facts

about the marriage decline issue, while the second will use four sociological concepts to help

understand why marriage decline is occurring.

This paper will describe four factors that account for why marriage rates are declining.

These factors include mass media images, declining religiosity, independence, and female

independence movement.  To describe the cause of marriage decline, it is important to recognize

factors that contribute to its occurrence and continuance. When discussing these different factors

it is possibly a culture cue unique to Western society, such as independence that could tie all the

frameworks (factors) together.

The Issue: Marriage Rates Decline

The state of marriage seems to be in disarray in America as well as the western world.

Marriage rates have consistently dropped in the last couple of decades. Culture has a great
influence on the values of the people it encompasses. In the last ten years marriage rates have

dropped by at least 5 percent in all populations and at least 10 percent in most marriage eligible

age groups (25-34). The most marriage eligible age groups that have never been married

increased by at least 10 percent also. That would mean that less people are getting married, while

those never getting married have increased. (Mather and Lavery 2010) Current figures show the

lowest marriage rates since records have been kept on marital status by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Also it’s possible that the number of women unmarried has surpassed the amount of women

married for the first time in U.S. history. By anaylsising statistics, it could be concluded that

marriage is not as sacred as it once was. According to Census Bureau's CPS, marriage rates have

continued to decline for 2010.

The different factors that contribute to marriage decline can statistically be broken

down to illustrate similar trends across age, sex, nationality, race, and country of origin.

However, it seems that minorities, in particular African Americans have been hit the hardest by

marriage decline with many sources pointing to 70% of African American women unwed

(Census Bureau 2010,Table A1). This has had a devastating effect on the African American

community when it was combined this with out of wedlock children rising. Men in the most

marriageable ages 25-29 have the currently highest unmarried percentage in America at 69.1

with those never marring being at 62.2%. Currently 56% of American women are unmarried.

(Census Bureau 2010, Table A1).

Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Problem

Marriage in Western society is become increasingly obsolete in people’s lives. More

people are choosing to remain unmarried, while the generation that follows continues to view
marriage as unimportant for growth and achievement. I will utilize four concepts to illustrate

why a culture shift is occurring. These concepts include mass media images, declining

religiosity, independence, and female independence movement. I will discuss each concept

separately and its contributions it makes to marriage decline.

Mass Media

Jurgen Habermas believe that mass media is utilized by private interests for publicity of

their “secret policies” in which masses/audience are given a prepackaged opinion. (Appelrouth

and Edles, 2008: 726). This can help to understand why marriage is viewed as unimportant in

Western/Capitalistic societies. While the United States of America is the blueprint for a

capitalistic society it becomes one of the most obvious places one can observe its affects. Marx,

like many others believe that capitalism exploits the working class which is also the majority in

America. This exploitation causes the worker to become a cog in the system, unable to benefit

directly from their production. As theorized before, the best workers are those who value work

over anything else. As believe by Marx and others it would be in the elite’ interest to destroy the

family because it produces more workers who must spend money on separated cars, living

spaces, etc which means more profits for capitalist. Some believe that along with the attempt to

legalize gay and lesbian marriage thus making all subject to marriage tax penalties.

Divorces are played out all too often on T.V. through soap operas, reality T.V., talk

shows, judge shows, and movies. The image is definitely out there along with no fault divorce,

that divorce is easy and acceptable. Fox-Genovese stated that the most radical feminist and

corporations (owners of mass media) champion divorce, because it serves their interest to break

up the family. Thus more individual households were created for corporations economic
exploitation and possible politically also. While feminist gain more support through single

mothers and women who receive most of the aid feminist fought for.

Declining Religiosity

Christianity introduced the concept of individuality through the idea of freedom and

equality. This was later used by the women’s movement to advocate freedom and equality for

women. However, with the idea of Christianity being patriarchal and in which the man rule over

the women, they presented Christian virtue as oppressive and thus became difficult to re-

establish. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 97,100) Protestant further the change of marriage from its

original view of “better than to burn” to the concept of romantic love, which was used to further

illustrate the oppression of women in a patriarch marriage based off subordination and family

assets instead of love. (Ross 2006: 13, 15)

Female Independence Movement and Independence

To understand the current climate of the gender war in what it is being fought for in

regards to marriage, is over money, you must understand the history of marriage and how money

was exchange. In America’s history and still practice today and many countries, during periods

(and in societies) in which woman’s labor and fertility were highly valued a man’s family paid a

dowry to the bride’s family. During periods (and societies) in which status, wealth, education, or

military prowess are highly valued over women’s expected contributions, her family paid a

dowry to the grooms. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 9) Thus marriage was and still is in many instances a

business transaction/contract. This business transaction was intended not to only benefit the

individual, but more importantly to benefit the family.

 The rise of independence, which introduced marrying for love (romantic love) and not the

original objects of marriage is what eventually lead to the feminist movement. (Fox-Genovese

2008: 11) Personal happiness became the foundation of marriage and eventually is what lead to

its decline. While originally marriage was a business transaction between families, tribes, even

kingdoms. To understand how this came about you must understand that the family was

considered a unit in most of the slave holding south and Western America to the concepts of

family above individual. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 75, 76) The very competitive and capitalistic

north still had a hierarchy in which women were subordinate to their fathers, uncles, husbands,

and brothers. You were not an individual but a husband, wife, child, mother, uncle. (Fox-

Genovese 2008: 76) Within the concept, individual rights did not trump family rights. The first

women’s movement worked to combat the subordination of women and the injustice it entailed.

Feminist equated marry women to slaves in the women’s movements analogies, which

eventually lead to women being able to own property in their names. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 77)

The most radical feminist wanted women to have complete autonomy from

husbands and kids. To do so they use consciousness-raising in which house work and child-

rearing labor where demonized. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 77) These trends did not discontinue, in

the early 1970s when the second wave of the women’s movement rose, housewives were the

subject of a brutal campaign by OTHER women to paint them as willful slaves and oppressed.

Also during this period divorce rose, yet divorce rate have not risen since the 1970s but marriage

is continually declining because of postponement of it or the refusal to marry. (Cherlin 2008:

362,363)
 Women’s fight for autonomy from their husband and children has been mark be many

unprecedented cases, from the legalization of abortion Roe v. Wade (1973), to Planned

Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth (1976) which stated that a husband couldn’t have his

wife pregnancy terminated. (Fox-Genovese 2008: 85) From that came Planned Parenthood of

Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), in which the wife is not required to inform her

husband of her decision to terminate a pregnancy. The effectively took husbands completely out

of the family life in regards to childbearing, thus took them out of the family. (Fox-Genovese

2008: 86) This in turn, took away men incentive to start families, being that within them they

owned nothing, not even their kids. Thus fewer men decide to marry or postpone them for later

in life.

Most women usually are more satisfied with their divorce and receive higher settlements.

Considering that many men have been financial ruined through divorce and lost custody of kids,

it would seem that many men have began to delay marriage or forgo it completely, shown by

likelihood (percentage) of marry in the U.S. Also, women initiated 70% of all divorce in the U.S.

Which combined with marriage as an institute changing cases made marriage look inhospitable

to men.

Conclusion

With the media promoting divorce while this simultaneously serves the interest of special

interest groups such as corporations and feminist groups, marriage in the mind of many just isn’t

as important. This was lead about with the decline of religiosity in the sense that marriage no

longer meant what it use to those unappealing. The rise of independence which has impacted

divorce, the women’s movement, and the decline of religiosity has caused people to view their
personal happiness paramount to anything else. This caused marriage from being a family

event/decision to one of personal choice. Without the need for economic reasons, and with

divorce being unfriendly to men, marriage was no longer viewed as an act necessary for life

fulfillment or requirements.
References