The Decline of Marriage

James Q. Wilson

Everyone knows that the rising proportion of women who bear and raise children out of wedlock has greatly weakened the American family system. This phenomenon, once thought limited predominantly to African Americans, now affects whites as well, so much so that the rate at which white children are born to an unmarried mother is now as high as the rate for black children in the mid-1960s, when Daniel Patrick Moynihan issued his famous report on the Negro family.

For whites the rate is one-fifth; for blacks it is over one-half.

Why has this happened? I think there are two possible explanations to consider: money and culture.

For the complete article go to the Manhattan Institute website.