1. Sociology of the Family
May 7, 2015

2. Divorce Statistics are Misleading
Both marriage and divorce rates are slightly lower in recent years than they were a decade ago.
In 2012:
The marriage rate: There were 6.8 marriages for every 1,000 people.
The divorce rate: There were 3.4 divorces for every 1,000 people.
This has led to a widely publicized statistic that “50% of marriages end in divorce.” This is inaccurate – the people that marry in a given year are not the same people that divorce. The divorce “rate” has never reached 50% and likely never will.

3. Moral Entrepreneurs
Moral entrepreneurs construct deviant behaviors – by telling us how and why a social phenomenon is a problem that needs attention. They try to influence policy that aligns with a particular moral viewpoint.

4. A Brief History of Divorce
Around the time of the Revolutionary War, Americans started understanding marriage as a contract between willing parties.
Divorce was a legitimate way to revoke a marriage, and was not associated with social disorder in the way it would be later.
First wave feminism marked by women’s growing independence from men and the liberalization of marriage – and divorce begins to be seen as selfish individualism by pro-marriage advocates
No fault divorce a feminist victory by the late 20th Century
Child welfare inserted into the divorce debate to leverage the pro-marriage argument and construct divorce as deviant

5. How Moral Campaigns Work
Divorce is divisive – those who support women’s rights see it as a way out of a bad marriage; others see it as a threat to marriage
Pro-marriage advocates attempted to build “consensus” around the divorce problem by arguing that it was detrimental to child moral development

6. Divorce and Inequality
The middle and upper classes utilizes divorce as a means of self-actualization and fulfillment by getting out of a bad relationship, but the poor face many financial hurdles in dissolving a marriage.