Does the spreading greater acceptance of same-sex marriage suggest that marriage as an institution is “obsolete?” It sounds contradictory to suggest such a thing. Similar patterns, though, have been found in other areas where a majority group historically denied privileges it enjoys to a minority group. For instance, as women made inroads into formerly male-dominated occupations, research showed that men abandoned the same occupations into which they once resisted women’s entry. Similarly, whites abandon neighborhoods which then become integrated with minority residents. In short, what sometimes looks like progress for minority groups may be a result of the majority group devaluing and abandoning what was previously vigorously defended and denied to the minority group.
Nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized same sex marriage. Another 11 states have domestic partnership or civil union laws. The rest (except New Mexico) have passed bans on same sex marriage. There are initiatives in four more states to legalize either same sex marriage or civil unions and none currently to ban it. The trend is undeniable.
The movement to find legal and institutional support for same sex marriage could be understood to validate the contemporary relevance of marriage in the United States; however, research on marriage trends and attitudes (among presumably mostly heterosexual respondents) suggests something different. In December 2011, Pew Charitable Trusts released a study, “Barely Half of U.S. Adults Are Married - A Record Low.”
In 1960, 72 percent of adult Americans were married; in 2010 only 51 percent were. The report claims, if current trends continue, in a few years, less than half of American adults will be married. America is not alone in these trends. They are also found in other mature, post-industrial, advanced economies. As American style individualism, especially consumer individualism spreads internationally, an institution perhaps increasingly viewed as at odds with individualism, might increasingly become irrelevant and to survive may have to change both legally and normatively.
In 1960, average age at first marriage was in the early 20s, now it is in the late 20s. It is not likely that many wait for marriage to enjoy sex today as was more likely 50 years ago. The impetuous and romantic teens and early 20 somethings of the 1960s have given way to a more mature and financially more independent set of partners marrying for the first time.
Two trends seem to be especially important. The older age at first marriage, cited by Pew, and then another, cited in a study by Bowling Green University, “The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce Among Middle-aged and Older Adults, 1990-2009.” While divorce rates have stabilized and even fallen, they have spiked among this age group. These are marriages that have lasted 25+ years. Qualitative research cited in the study indicates that many older couples who divorce simply have grown apart “Life-long marriages are increasingly difficult to sustain in an era of individualism and lengthening life expectancies; older adults are more reluctant now to remain in empty shell marriages.”
In response to a question of whether marriage as an institution is obsolete, Pew found, that 39 percent said “yes.” This compares with only 28 percent in the 1970s. This view varied by education and age. The more educated were less likely to see marriage as obsolete while those under 50, compared with those over 50, were more likely to see marriage as obsolete, a difference of 10 percentage points. Among the never married, 61 percent indicated they wanted to get married. It does not appear that one’s view on the obsolescence of marriage affects the wish to marry.
Perhaps most telling is that 58 percent of unmarried parents and 62 percent of cohabiting parents agree that marriage is obsolete. Marriage is our society’s primary mechanism for tying adult responsibility to children, and clear majorities of unmarried parents respond that marriage is obsolete. It would be interesting to see if heterosexuals in those states where same-sex marriage is legal differ in their views and experience of marriage and divorce from those in states that have banned same sex marriage.
For many years the cause of marriage equality, and backlashes to it, have played out. The gay community (a minority community) organizes and pushes for access to an institution defended by the straight majority. As victories mount for the cause of marriage equality, it may be those victories are aided because the straight community no longer views marriage the same, are devaluing it, thus less likely to defend its boundaries.
Thomas L. Steiger is a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Student Research and Creativity at Indiana State University. Email thomas.steiger@indstate.edu.
Opinion Columns
THOMAS L. STEIGER: Many factors changing our views on marriage
- Opinion Columns
-
-
RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
-
RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
-
RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
-
MARK BENNETT: Life at face value: Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable daily challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research.
(Unless, of course, your mother is a scientific researcher. If so, carry a No. 2 pencil and take good notes.) -
SUSAN DUNCAN: Advice to the kids on Mother’s Day
Just so you know, now settled firmly into middle age, I think of “kids” as anyone in their 30s and younger. I also accept that many of my elders view me as an upstart whippersnapper, though snapping even my fingers nowadays can be a chore.
-
FLASHPOINT: Again in 2013 General Assembly, middle class generally ignored
Last year, the people of Indiana entrusted the Republican Party with some of their most precious possessions.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Raccoons II’
In the Algonquin Indian language, raccoon means “working with hands.” They are really cute little fellows until they injure a child, or a pet, or leave feces around where you certainly do not want it.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘NRA Convention’
At the recent NRA Convention in Houston, Texas, where the right-wing political hot air almost lifted the convention's building off its foundation, the NRA trotted out the forever yours political dame of the right wing, Sarah Palin. Sarah did not disappoint.
-
RONN MOTT: ‘Heritage gone’
The last high school I attended was being torn down just a few days ago. I didn't learn about it until I saw classmate Dick Mills on television and a display he had put together about State football championships in the middle 1930's. I began elementary school with Dick Mills. That was Matthew South Elementary School on South Sixth Street in Clinton, Indiana. After seeing Dick on TV, it dawned on me that all schools I had attended in Clinton have been torn down.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: We always want more than we need
Washington seems more preoccupied with the unemployment rate than they are about the constant stalemate. Still with thousands out of work and the unemployment rate hovering somewhere between 7 percent and 9 percent, it does deserve more than a passing nod.
-
MARK BENNETT: Should I stay or should I go?
Some have their Bill Clinton-era Cavalier packed (with the trunk bungee-ed shut), apartment cleaned (except for the fridge), and iPhone GPS locked onto the fastest route out of Terre Haute. Others are staying — until they find a better job, or because they’re starting a career here, or because this town feels like home. In each case, a new stage of life begins today.
-
College Class of '13 gets a little extra advice
Local college grads will hear commencement speakers offer life and career advice this month. We’re offering them an extra dose here from folks who’ve found success in various vocations and regions of the nation. Many have Terre Haute roots.
-
RONN MOTT: Things that go bump in the night
I live in a very old house. There are all kinds of noises that occur, especially at night, or so it seems. Aside from the various creaks and pops from old wooden floors and walls when the furnace heats up and sends warm air into the rooms, we, my wife and I, have heard other noises.
-
RONN MOTT: Around the dial
At lunch the other day with Terry Tevlin (First Financial Bank), I bumped into Dale Mahurin. I hadn’t talked to Dale in a long time and inquired about his wife, Julie Henricks.
Julie has returned to the radio microphone doing a weekend gig on Mix FM. For fans of Julie’s show on WTWO-TV, don’t worry, she’s not leaving … just multi-tasking. Welcome back to the radio airwaves, Julie! -
ANDREA NEAL: Newspaper journalists still make a difference
A recent survey ranked newspaper reporter as the worst career of 2013, just below meter reader and lumberjack, but you wouldn’t guess it from the stories told by journalists who gathered in Bloomington to see six of their own inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.
-
RONN MOTT: George Jones
I got to Nashville in the early ’70s, hired by John Patton, who had been a DJ for WBOW earlier in his career. Then, he was managing WMAK in Nashville and I was promised a top sales list and received the yellow pages (many a promise like this has happened to people in this business). I also did sports commentary for the morning man and would ultimately do a season of play-by-play and a short TV schedule for Tennessee State.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Old age is in email of the beholder
My Best Friend isn’t much for writing letters, so email has opened a new world for him. He can dash off a few words to a high school friend or his college roommate — now living in Florida and Washington State,
-
MARK BENNETT: Spirited response to a rising river
The power within the Wabash revealed itself last week.
-
FLASHPOINT: Time has arrived for overhaul of TV news
Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes gave an address in 1992 in which he claimed television news was too superficial and too focused on visuals.
-
RONN MOTT: Remembering Pat Summerall
I don’t remember how I first became aware of Pat Summerall, but the first time I heard him was on a New York radio station (WCBS, I think). He was doing the sports for the morning man and exchanging some opinions about sports and such with him.
-
RONN MOTT: What I don’t know
I was watching a segment on the History Channel the other night while I waited for the end of “The Big Bang Theory” and a show I had seen before. It was “Sex in History.” And the two segments I watched were about Ben Franklin and Howard Hughes.
-
RONN MOTT: You, me, and the Muslim world
I don’t know how to do this. I’m a fairly intelligent human being, but the events of the past week in Boston have turned me emotionally inside out. It’s more than the people who died, it’s more than the people who were injured … some permanently,
-
LIZ CIANCONE: A memory test from the oldtime radio days
For some reason, I seem to be the go-to source for all sorts of obscure information out at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
-
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
-
RONN MOTT: China
The recent blustering by North Korea and their weaponry, which now includes ICBMs, has pulled into full attention America’s involvement with China.
-
RONN MOTT: The country is not the NRA
It’s the United States of America, not the United States of the National Rifle Association. But hey, if that’s your poison, maybe it will change.
-
RONN MOTT: Observations of spring
I turned on the TV last week, got focused on a wrestling match and a basketball game broke out. My goodness, what a rough game with bodies strewn all over the floor. If you were going to contest a shot, you would have to hit him hard, and the rules must have changed because I didn’t recognize any of the foul calls.
-
LIZ CIANCONE: Friskey no doubt was in favor of gun control
I once owned a gun. Actually, it was Dad’s gun and I was allowed to use it. He bought an air gun which shot BB’s to protect our home — in a way.
-
MARK BENNETT: Performing under the radar: Toiling for years behind the scenes, Terre Haute native J.T. Corenflos finally earned a splash of musical recognition
People who diligently work to make others shine are a rare breed.
- More Opinion Columns Headlines
-
RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Wind Energy Push Leaves Trail of Dead Eagles
Raw: Germany Protestors Picket Barbie House
Horse Saved From Slaughter, Goes on to Win Big
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Music Therapy Bonds Parents and Preemies
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Tensions As Israel Targets Syria in Airstrikes
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
Raw: Spacewalking Astronauts Hope to Stop Leak
Obama: 'Couldn't Be Prouder' of Jason Collins
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Officials Arrest Man in Idaho in Terrorism Case
Today in History, May 6th
Raw: Child, Stroller Falls Onto Pa. Train Tracks
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Coffee Stop Leads To Arrest Of YouTube Sensation Wanted For Murder
Bearded Dragon Reunited With Owner
Marine Reunited with Warzone Companion
Beyonce Is Pregnant!
SF baseball player overpaid $500,000 RETURNS money -- and team says KEEP IT
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
Dad returns from Afghanistan, surprises family during Rays' first pitch
See Jennifer Lopez's New $10m Hamptons Mansion
Woman tricked into taking abortion pill
Emma Watson Goes Pantless
IRS scandal: Republicans seek to tie Obama to agency's woes
Play of the Day: Flipping to Safety
Pregnant Kim Kardashian Squeezes Her Swollen Feet Into Stilettos
Top Videos of the Week: Angry Taco Bell Guy, Glacier Moves on House, Dog Hates Baths
Cindy Crawford Stuns At Cannes
Raw: Marines Come to Obama's Aid in the Rain
CUTE: Monkey shares lollipop with dog, then HITS pooch on head with it
Miranda Kerr Looks Sexy in a Bikini Photo Shoot
