Mirror of Justice

A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Marriage and the Middle Class

By Rob Vischer

Brad Wilcox and Chuck Donovan report that marriage's decline is expanding from the lower socioeconomic classes into the middle class.  An excerpt:

The breakdown of marriage and family has afflicted the poorest Americans for more than a generation. What is happening today is a widening gulf between the middle class, where a sharp decline in marriage is at work, and the most educated and affluent Americans, where marriage indicators are either stable or improving. . . .

Among moderately educated Americans, the out-of-wedlock birth rate hit 44 percent, up from 13 percent as recently as 1982.  Again, Middle America moved closer in behavioral norms to the poorest Americans, even as more educated and wealthier Americans are embracing a marriage mindset.

https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2010/12/marriage-and-the-middle-class.html

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I wonder if the battle over same-sex marriage is hurting marriage in general, helping it, or having no effect. I can't find any statistics, but I have the general impression that support for same-sex marriage is highest among the educated and affluent, where marriage itself is also strongest. Does it make it more difficult for those who campaign against some people (same-sex couples) getting married to be promoting marriage for lower- and middle-class heterosexuals?

Also, is anybody thinking of ways to mitigate the situation for single-parent families where marriage is unlikely? I didn't read "It Takes a Village," but it does seem to me the more something akin to an extended family (whether relatives or not) is available to children being raised by single parents, the better. Maybe there should be co-ops or other such associations -- both economic and "familial" -- for single-parent families so they could pool their economic power and also their child-raising efforts.