Cause: Marriage and New York Times
From the 1960s to 2010, the marriage rates have dropped drastically for the working-class whites. Charles Murray wrote a book last year, Coming Apart: The State of White America. In this book, Murray explains what the statistics are and what they mean. In the 1960s, the middle-class marriage rate was 94% and the working-class was 84%. In 2010, middle-class is 83% and the working-class is 48%. This means in about 50 years, the marriage rates dropped 11 points in the middle-class and a mind-blowing 36% in the working-class. This decline in marriage rates has been perceived by some as a big problem. So what is the cause of this big 36% decline in working-class marriages? Well, some would argue that the working-class whites have a higher divorce rate because of the economic issues that this class goes through. In the working-class, there are low household incomes, low education levels, and parents who are divorced. Of course, any from that group can get married or not get divorced. Having those factors or a combination of those factors could simply mean a higher chance of not being married or getting divorced at some point in life.
The one of the economic issues that the working class has always faced is a vast majority of this class only has one person to bring in an income. Since this group had the blue collar jobs, the money is usually lower than it cost to keep up the things they have in their homes including the houses themselves. In many cases the money was brought in by the male. Now both men and women bring in the money. Recently, many women don’t think they need to get married until much later because of the financial issues that come of some marriages they have seen fall apart in front of them. Now that men and women can make the money we see more “Egalitarian marriages — in which wives are in every sense their husbands’ peers.” (Paul) they make as much if not more money than the men and they spend time figuring out where the money should be going. In some
The one of the economic issues that the working class has always faced is a vast majority of this class only has one person to bring in an income. Since this group had the blue collar jobs, the money is usually lower than it cost to keep up the things they have in their homes including the houses themselves. In many cases the money was brought in by the male. Now both men and women bring in the money. Recently, many women don’t think they need to get married until much later because of the financial issues that come of some marriages they have seen fall apart in front of them. Now that men and women can make the money we see more “Egalitarian marriages — in which wives are in every sense their husbands’ peers.” (Paul) they make as much if not more money than the men and they spend time figuring out where the money should be going. In some
Cited: 1. Coontz, Stephanie, and The Opinions Expressed in This Commentary Are Solely Those of Stephanie Coontz. "Marriage Is Not Antidote to Poverty." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2013. 2. "The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families." Pew Social Demographic Trends RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2013. 3. Murray, Charles A. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. New York, NY: Crown Forum, 2012. Print. 4. Paul, Annie Murphy. "THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 11-19-06: IDEA LAB; The Real Marriage Penalty." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2006. Web. 16 Jan. 2013. 5. "According to the U.S. Census, the Number of Single Parents Continues to Rise." About.com Single Parents. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.