Gemeinsames Audio

This article reexamines the thesis that marriage is becoming deinstitutionalized. It first reviews relevant theoretical literature on social institutions, including the “new institutionalism” and the work of Bourdieu on cultural capital. It addresses the great social class differences that have emerged in American family life over the past few decades and their implications for the deinstitutionalization thesis. It then evaluates the thesis, with these conclusions: What has happened in recent ye