Patriarchy, Power, and Pay: The Transformation of American Families, 1800–2015

Abstract

This article proposes explanations for the transformation of American families over the past two centuries. I describe the impact on families of the rise of male wage labor beginning in the nineteenth century and the rise of female wage labor in the twentieth century. I then examine the effects of decline in wage labor opportunities for young men and women during the past four decades. I present new estimates of a precipitous decline in the relative income of young men and assess its implications for the decline for marriage. Finally, I discuss explanations for the deterioration of economic opportunity and speculate on the impact of technological change on the future of work and families.

Why Have Americans Changed Their Minds about Premarital Sex?

“…10, No. 3;2018 In the first regression for opinions about sex between same sex couples, the coefficients on the time trends are 0.18 for fundamentalist Protestants and 0.34 for others (see column 2 in Table 5). The positive coefficients show both groups" members have become more likely to say sex between people of the same sex was not wrong.…”

“…10, No. 3;2018 When trying to assess how religious affiliation and marital status affect opinions it is important to control for other demographic changes. If millennials are less religious or less likely to be fundamentalist Protestant church members than members of older generations, this might result in differences in these groups" opinions.…”

Who brings home the bacon? The influence of context on partners' contributions to the household income

“…The economic revolution, which, according to Ruggles (2015), was responsible for demographic changes in family composition, divorce, and marriage, appears to also provide an explanation for the observed prevalence of female-breadwinner couples. In other words, changes in the labour market which have affected men's and women's economic prospects provide a better explanation of the observed pattern of women's economic superiority with respect to their partners than the diffusion of gender-egalitarian attitudes.…”

“…Sironi and Furstenberg (2012) show that the share of young American men who were able to support a family in the 2010s was considerably lower than in the 1970s. As a result of globalization, modernization, and underlying changes in the labour market, women's labour force participation and earnings have increased relative to men's (Goldin 2006;Esping-Andersen 2009;Ruggles 2015). Also, among the younger cohorts, women have outpaced men in higher education (Van Bavel 2012).…”

“…3 Yet, despite the increasing prevalence of female-breadwinner couples, and despite the fact that this couple type significantly diverges from the traditional malebreadwinner model which has characterized families in the developed world for most of the 20th century (Becker 1981;Esping-Andersen 2009;Ruggles 2015), little is known about its determinants.…”