As Marriage Goes, What Does This Mean For Society?
December 15th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
NPR recently had a story about how the rate of marriage in the US is dropping to an all time low of 51%. In the story was this bit I thought was interesting:
“But what it does bring home to us is that we can no longer pretend that marriage is the central organizing principle of society. We have to take account of the many, many social networks and relationships that people cycle through, marriage being just one of them,” Coontz says.
via When It Comes To Marriage, Many More Say ‘I Don’t’ : NPR.
You have to wonder what the future will hold. Unfortunately, I think that if the trend continues, it will be bad for women and children. Women and children benefit significantly from stable two parent homes. You only have to look to the chaos found in minority communities that have a lower incidence of marriage to get a glimpse of what the future could hold for society at large.
It’s also not good for men either. Men who don’t marry are seemingly stuck in a perpetual state of boyhood, regardless of their chronological age.
