Waubonsee Community College

The two-parent privilege, how Americans stopped getting married and started falling behind, Melissa S. Kearney

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

The two-parent privilege

bibliography

1369031932

Melissa S. Kearney

how Americans stopped getting married and started falling behind

"The new economics of love and marriage-and who benefits. The realities of single parenting in the US have long carried a connotation of hardship-not just in finances, but in the wrenching day-to-day challenges of parenting without a net. As marriage rates in the US continue to drop, and as single-parent households become increasingly concentrated at the lower end of the income spectrum, it begs the question: what does all this mean for a country and a society already dogged by inequality and the weight of racial discrimination? The Two-Parent Privilege examines the emerging role of marriage in the United States. Weaving data and observations drawn from across the social sciences, economist Melissa Kearney explores how the concentration of marriage among the affluent has made the institution of marriage itself a propagator of American inequality--one that may signal the end of American economic mobility. Kearney's work is a trenchant, sometimes uncomfortable, but deeply necessary critical look at how the makeup of our households are charting our path ahead"--, Provided by publisher

Preface -- The elephant in the room -- Mother-only households -- 2 > 1 -- Marriageable men (or not) -- Parenting is hard -- Boys and dads -- Declining births -- Family matters

2-parent privilege