Book Review, June Carbone &Amp; Naomi Cahn, Marriage Markets: How Inequality is Remaking the American Family, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014

Abstract

Why is marriage thriving for high-income, well-educated elites, and dying for low-income, less-educated couples? “[I]t’s the economy, stupid,” argue authors June Carbone and Naomi Cahn in their thoroughly investigated new book Marriage Markets: How Inequality is Remaking the American Family. Marriage, the authors posit, is a deal similar to other bargains, driven by market forces. For some, marriage is a more realistic “deal” to make, and comes with greater chances for a successful outcome. Yet for others, marriage is often viewed as a deal not worth making.

Marriage and the modern-day American family have changed dramatically over the years. The age at which people marry is going up, the rate of marriage is falling, almost half of all marriages fail, and the number of children born outside of marriage is on the rise. But these changes do not affect everyone the same way. "Marriage Markets" thoughtfully examines the links between evolving families, developments in family law, and growing class divisions, and highlights the role of class in “scripting our lives.”