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Marriage, Family Systems, and Economic Opportunity in the USA Since 1850

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Gender and Couple Relationships

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 6))

Abstract

The decline of marriage over the past half century ranks among the most profound demographic transformations in American demographic history. This chapter puts recent change into historical context by providing new estimates of long-run trends in marriage. I then describe change in the family economy and explore the impact of economic changes on marriage behavior. I conclude with a discussion of cultural and structural explanations for change and their implications for the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This graph was inspired by a similar illustration that appears in Goldscheider and Stanfors (2014). The term “Corporate Family Economy” was apparently coined by Ryan (1981), and my characterization of change was informed by Mintz (1998).

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions of Frances Goldscheider, Stephanie Coontz, and Katie Genadek. Data collection and processing was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R24 HD41023, R01 HD047283, R01 HD43392).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, 50 Willey Hall, 225 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Dr. Steven Ruggles

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  1. Dr. Steven Ruggles
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Correspondence to Steven Ruggles .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Social Science Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Susan M. McHale

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Valarie King

  3. Population Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Jennifer Van Hook

  4. Department of Sociology and Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alan Booth

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Ruggles, S. (2016). Marriage, Family Systems, and Economic Opportunity in the USA Since 1850. In: McHale, S., King, V., Van Hook, J., Booth, A. (eds) Gender and Couple Relationships. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21635-5_1

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