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