The benefits of marriage reconsidered

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Dec, 2004 by Barbara Wells, Maxine Baca Zinn

This paper suggests that analyses of marriage experience take into account both structures of inequality and context. Although marriage is widely viewed as producing economic well-being and family stability, this analysis of a sample of White rural families finds the likelihood of realizing these benefits to be closely related to social class position. Marriage failed to produce these benefits for many working class and poor families. Although gains in economic self-sufficiency are viewed as an explanation for White women's perceived retreat from marriage, the limited opportunity structure for women in this rural place provides a context in which women continue to rely on marriage for economic survival.

Key words: marital stability, family diversity, inequality, rural families, social class, social policy

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The erosion of marriage in the U. S. family constellation is producing feverish debates both in the realm of public policy and in the conduct of social research. Much of the discussion of welfare reauthorization has focused on encouraging marriage among women on welfare (Parke, 2003). In recent years, studies promoting marriage have become academically popular. Yet those who promote marriage as a means of increasing individual and social well-being often ignore questions of context and inequality.

In this paper, we explore a dominant preoccupation associated with marital decline, namely the view that marriage provides substantial benefits not enjoyed by the unmarried. Our approach treats marriage as a social relation that is differentiated by class and other social locations including gender and race. We use a contextual approach to examine marital benefits. More concretely, we analyze the marital experiences of a sample of White families in a small rural community with substantial social class variation. We ask, what is the relationship between marriage and economic well-being for these families? Has marriage produced stability in their lives? How does "marriage matter" to these families?

The decline of marriage in the experience of U.S. adults has been significant. The proportion of U.S. adults (age 18 and over) who are married fell from 65.5% in 1980 to 59.5% in 1999. These declines are found across racial and ethnic categories. Between 1980 and 1999, the percentage of married White adults fell from 67.2% to 62.0%, the percentage of married African Americans fell from 51.4% to 41.4%, and the percentage of married Hispanics fell from 65.6% to 59.4%. Currently 61.5% of adult men are married and 57.7% of adult women are married (U.S. Census Bureau, 20O0).

Perspectives on Marriage and Economic Conditions

Links between marriage and higher standards of living are well established. In 1999, median income for married couple households was $56,676, single male household income was $37,396, and single-female household income was $23,732. Single female household earnings were 35.7% of the earnings of married couple families in which wives were employed and 61.4% of the earnings in which wives were not in the labor force (U.S. Census, 2001).

Because of the strong connection between marriage and economic well-being, declining marriage rates raise concerns about increasing disparities in standards of living (McLanahan & Casper, 1995; White & Rogers, 2000). Although scholars disagree on the question of whether marriage patterns are the cause or the consequence of economic security and well-being, most agree that marital status is rapidly becoming an axis of inequality.

Marital Decline and Changing Opportunities

The economic disparities associated with marriage have prompted family scholars to investigate recent changes in marital patterns, including less marriage, more divorce, more cohabitation, and more nonmarital childbearing. An important stream of that literature connects changes in marriage patterns to the transformation of the economy from its manufacturing base to a base in service and technology. Changes in the labor force, notably structural unemployment, the changing distribution of jobs, and the low-income generating capacity of jobs, have altered women and men's employment patterns. In the new economy, industrial jobs traditionally filled by men are being replaced with service jobs that are increasingly filled by women. This social transformation has changed the historic understanding of marriage as a relationship in which men provide for economically dependent women and children.

The scholarship on changing economic conditions and marriage patterns divides mostly into two categories: first, studies that emphasize male economic opportunities as determinants of marital patterns; and second, those that emphasize women's opportunities as determinants of marital patterns (For a review of scholarship in each category see Bianchi & Casper, 2000; and White & Rogers, 2000). Male-based explanations of marriage propose that men with higher earnings are more likely to marry and less likely to divorce; their employment and earnings make them attractive partners and enhance marital stability. According to this explanation, the observed retreat from marriage is associated with lower wages and diminished economic prospects for contemporary men. Men who are unlikely to be good providers are not seen as attractive marriage partners (Manning and Smock, 2002; McLanahan & Casper, 1995). Explanations calling on women's earnings suggest that work or welfare produce an "independence effect," which destabilizes marriage. In brief, women who, in the new economy, are no longer economically dependent are less interested in marriage because they are able to be self-sufficient without it (Becker, 1981; Cherlin, 1992). An overlapping line of analysis emphasizes the retreat from marriage for some racial minorities and those at the bottom of the class hierarchy (Edin, 2000; Wilson, 1987).