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Danielle SimendingerProfessor HamiltonEnglish 12015 December 2016The Decline of Marriage in AmericaThere is currently a debate of whether or not there is an increase or decrease of marriages in America. One focus directed towards marriage increasing alludes to the pool of candidates for marriage with baccalaureate degrees is increasing along with the greater acceptance of interracial couples seeking marriage becoming more socially acceptable both of these things were less common before the 1970’s and now attribute to the overall increase of marriage. According to Richard Fry, Marriage is actually turning around and increasing. New data shows that more baccalaureate-educated people are getting married. During the great recession, marriage only took a slight dip, and since has increased. Many young people are delaying marriage until after college in order to obtain a steady career. Even so, they are the largest population with the highest growth rate when considering people getting married. This leads to the belief that marriage is increasing because the more educated you are, the more likely you are to marry someone with similar education; leading to stronger financial worth. Another view, according to Wendy Wang suggests that there is a reason to believe that the social acceptance of interracial marriage in America has also contributed to an increase in marriages. Wang states, “In 2014, 37% of Americans said having more people of different races marrying each other was a good thing for society, up from 24% four years earlier” (Wang). This popular trend is on the rise. This argument states that marriage is increasing due to the fact that more inter-racial couples are deciding to get married compared to same-race couples.While an opposing focus stands to believe that marriage is on the decline due to the current societal view pertaining to divorce as a commonplace practice, technology. The number of people committing to, and staying married is at an all time low compared to 50 years ago. Many young people are cohabitating, having children outside of marriage, or just enjoy being single. All of theses reasons are the results of the societal beliefs and changes in the minds view of the millennial generation. There is much speculation to these arguments. According to Walter Schumm; “marriage has always provided structure and meaning to peoples lives, but now, times have changed” (Schumm). Although the divorce rate varies between races and cultures, the overall divorce rates are higher for couples that are of the same race and culture although the numbers are increasing in marriage, this does not mean that people are staying together. Based on the opinions above, it’s hard to determine whether marriage is rising or declining. When looking at education, increase in loan debt for student’s leads to a longer amount of time in school. This results in people putting off marriage until they are able to graduate, obtain a career, and save enough money to start a family. Also, when looking at societal norms relating to interracial marriage becoming socially acceptable that shouldn’t even be a question because it has been acceptable for nearly 40 years. It isn’t such a social burden for the parties involved compared to the mentality of people in the 1970’s or earlier. Marriage is marriage weather its interracial or not, and it is still on the decline. Lastly, Divorce may actually increase marriage. Many of the couples from older generations viewed divorce as a taboo subject; it was not really an option. People stayed in marriages even if they were unhappy. However, with the increased popularity of divorce many people will remarry increasing the marriage rates overall. When it comes to technology, I agree that technology such as washing machines have caused a decrease in marriage by leading to men being less dependent on women for household help, yet the invention of newer technology such as social media and dating websites like and have contributed to the increase of marriage by allowing people to meet better life matches faster. Overall, Marriage in America is declining.According to Derek Thompson, Author of “The Death (and Life) of Marriage in America:” who states that; “The institution of marriage is crumbling and on the brink of oblivion” (Thompson). Some people like Thompson, believe that it is due to the current generation of young adults. One factor that is affecting the decline of marriage is the growing popularity of divorce. As marriage is declining, divorce is on the rise. More and more people are getting divorces since the spike in 1970. Also, with the laxed laws in some states which don’t require a “cooling off” period it is much easier to get a divorce. Another example is new technology. Although one may not think of medication as technology new drugs developed for use as birth control are just that, technology. According to Derek Thompson, “a little bit of biotechnology has helped their cause by reducing the costs of being sexually active and single” also; “Birth control extends a courtship by reducing the cost of waiting to get married” (Thompson). The use of birth control actually leads to less “shotgun weddings” which in turn leads to lower marriage rates and an overall decline. The invention of washing machines, and dishwashers has also decreased marriage rates. Before they existed, men married women to do house work such as washing clothes and dishes. This technology allowed men to become more independent, resulting in a decreased need for a spouse. Educating women is affecting the rate of marriages. In earlier times; “a college degree was the equivalent of punching your spinster card. In the late 1800s, half of all college-educated women never married” (Thompson). Now, many women opt out of marriage for fear of domestic responsibilities, not wanting to stay at home, clean the house, take care of the kids, or cook dinner like there 50’s counterparts. Today, women seek to acquire educations and have successful careers leading companies while many of the men stay home to raise children; thanks to the invent of the stay at home dad. Thompson gives a great example when he states; “if women are going to college, more of their 18-22 years will be taken up by history classes rather than a husband” (Thompson). The average age of women getting married has gone up due to this educational revolution for women. Economics is another factor that is resulting in fewer marriages. According to Thompson; “As women start earning money, fewer need to marry for financial reasons, which means they can afford to put off marriage” Now, for women there is better access to education and jobs. Men and women are looking for equality in the work place when it comes to responsibility, respect, and salary, rather than viewing the man as superior in education and career. As a result, this is causing an increase in marriages with higher education and a decrease in less educated couples; “There is evidence that social and economic sorting in America creates clusters of people who match up by education, salary, and politics” (Thompson). With reflecting back on marriage throughout the past 50 years, there are some obvious trends and changes. Divorce is on the rise, people are postponing marriage and focusing on an education and career, and women are becoming more independent. Technology has also replaced various roles of a spouse. Views of marriage have shifted over the years causing changes in the reasons for getting and staying married. All of theses are resulting in a decline in marriage in America.Works CitedFry, Richard. " New census data show more Americans are tying the knot, but mostly it’s the college-educated." Pew Research Center (IN) 06 Feb. 2014: Newspaper Source. Web. 2 Dec. 2016.Thompson, Derek. "The Death (and Life) of Marriage in America." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. Schumm, Walter. "Alone Together: How Marriage In America Is Changing." Journal Of Comparative Family Studies 5 (2010): 872. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.Wang, Wendy. " Interracial marriage: Who is ‘marrying out’?." Pew Research Center (IN) 12 Jun. 2015: Newspaper Source. Web. 2 Dec. 2016. ................
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