Deinstitutionalization of Marriage

Abstract

The deinstitutionalization of marriage is understood as the decline of marriage as societies have become more accepting of different forms of and alternatives to marriage. The changes in the social norms surrounding what was once the primary mode of family formation have arisen as a result of several social forces including the rise in cohabitation both before marriage and as an alternative to marriage, the increase in age at first marriage, the rise in divorce, the increase in out‐of‐wedlock childbearing, and the increase in the acceptability of same‐sex marriages.

Is Early Partnership Formation Instrumental for Fertility in Germany?

“…Marriage is thus deinstitutionalised, i.e. it is no longer mandatory for couples, nor does it continue to hold the same privileges that it once did compared with other partnership and family forms (Cherlin 2004;Coontz 2004;Lauer/Yodanis 2010;Thornton et al 2007;Walker 2016).…”