question of why, in the face of all of the positive effects of marriage, more and more people are not bothering to get married before having children. In the absence of a clear understanding of the causal factors for the retreat from marriage, these theories should form the foundation for any policy intervention, and so student knowledge of these theoretical frameworks will be pivotal in later weeks when we assess both what is known about what works to prevent the occurrence of unmarried families and what is currently being implemented by states as part of their marriage promotion activities. Naturally, there are many ideas about what constitutes the central cause for the retreat from marriage, and this week’s readings will expose students to some of the more prominent ones. For example, part of the impetus for the marriage-related language in PRWORA stems directly from the arguments of conservative scholars like Charles Murray who have argued that the retreat from marriage is due in large part to values and norms in low-income populations that differ from those held by mainstream . Particularly, he argues in the assigned reading that low-income populations have stopped valuing marriage as a social institution (, 2001). Therefore, he claims that in order to reinstate marriage as the normative practice across the socio-economic scale, low-income populations must be re-socialized into the belief that marriage is important and valuable. In contrast, others have argued that sex has been decoupled from marriage, with the result being that other practices, such as cohabitation, have become more socially acceptable and couples are choosing to cohabit rather than to marry. The article by Bumpass, Sweet and Cherlin (1991), while slightly dated, nonetheless provides a comprehensive overview and some empirical support for the argument for the role of the cohabitation alternative, and is used because it remains one of the most cited papers in support of the argument that cohabitation has replaced marriage among many young American couples. Still others have argued that changing economics have altered the American family; the Casper and Bianchi (2002) chapter provides a general portrait of the changing economic circumstances, such as women’s increased financial independence, that may have affected rates of marriage among American couples. Similarly, the Wilson and Neckerman (1987) article outlines now infamous ’s “marriageable man” hypothesis, stating that the decline in marriage in the African-American community is due to a lack
question of why, in the face of all of the positive effects of marriage, more and more people are not bothering to get married before having children. In the absence of a clear understanding of the causal factors for the retreat from marriage, these theories should form the foundation for any policy intervention, and so student knowledge of these theoretical frameworks will be pivotal in later weeks when we assess both what is known about what works to prevent the occurrence of unmarried families and what is currently being implemented by states as part of their marriage promotion activities. Naturally, there are many ideas about what constitutes the central cause for the retreat from marriage, and this week’s readings will expose students to some of the more prominent ones. For example, part of the impetus for the marriage-related language in PRWORA stems directly from the arguments of conservative scholars like Charles Murray who have argued that the retreat from marriage is due in large part to values and norms in low-income populations that differ from those held by mainstream . Particularly, he argues in the assigned reading that low-income populations have stopped valuing marriage as a social institution (, 2001). Therefore, he claims that in order to reinstate marriage as the normative practice across the socio-economic scale, low-income populations must be re-socialized into the belief that marriage is important and valuable. In contrast, others have argued that sex has been decoupled from marriage, with the result being that other practices, such as cohabitation, have become more socially acceptable and couples are choosing to cohabit rather than to marry. The article by Bumpass, Sweet and Cherlin (1991), while slightly dated, nonetheless provides a comprehensive overview and some empirical support for the argument for the role of the cohabitation alternative, and is used because it remains one of the most cited papers in support of the argument that cohabitation has replaced marriage among many young American couples. Still others have argued that changing economics have altered the American family; the Casper and Bianchi (2002) chapter provides a general portrait of the changing economic circumstances, such as women’s increased financial independence, that may have affected rates of marriage among American couples. Similarly, the Wilson and Neckerman (1987) article outlines ’s now infamous “marriageable man” hypothesis, stating that the decline in marriage in the African-American community is due to a lack
tfp_syllabus_000_lm.docx