The Marriage-Go-Round
Andrew J. Cherlin · 2009 · 280 pages
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About this book
Publisher's Description: From one of the nation's leading experts on the American family, a book that explores the state of marriage in America today; its evolution culturally; and with regard to religion and the law, how and why the present state of marriage-a merry-go-round of partnerships-developed, and the implications for parents and children. During Andrew J. Cherlin's three decades of study and analysis of family life, he came to see that marriage in the United States was different than in other Western countries-Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand-in a way that no one was writing about. He realized that marriage in America, unlike in other countries in the world, was seen as a cultural ideal, and the U.S. government was spending money to promote its continuation. The institution of marriage had become a social and political battlefield. Cherlin writes that Americans marry more repeatedly and have more live-in partners; that marriage and remarriage, frequent divorce, and short-term cohabiting relationships have resulted in a core upheaval in American family life; and that American children have been left to cope with the frequent and disruptive comings and goings of parents. He writes that Americans have come to embrace two contradictory models of personal and family life: marriage, a formal commitment to share one's life with another; and individualism, which emphasizes personal growth and development. The former promotes a lasting relationship; the lat
Appears in these reading paths
The Sociology of the Family: The Best Books on How Families Changed, in Order
Family Law: The Best Books on Marriage, Divorce and Custody, in Order
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