The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
Where to buy The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family tree in America Today books online?
Product Description
The Marriage-Go-Round illuminates the shifting scenery of America’s most cherished social institution and clarifies its arresting differences from marriage in additional Western countries.
Andrew J. Cherlin’s three decades of study have shown him that marriage in America is a social and political battlefield in a way that it isn’t in additional developed countries. Americans marry and divorce more regularly and have more live-in partners than Europeans, and gay Americans have more interest in legalizing same-sex marriage. The difference comes from Americans’ embrace of two contradictory cultural ideals: marriage, a proper commitment to share one’s life with another; and individualism, which emphasizes personal choice and self-development. Religion and law in America reinforce both of these behavioral poles, fueling turmoil in our family tree life and heated debate in our public life. Cherlin’s sharp diagnosis is an vital contribution to the debate and points the way to slowing down the partnership merry-go-round.
Buy Cheap The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family tree in America Today Online
Related posts:
- United Cakes of America: Recipes Celebrating Every State
- Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite
- Marriage And Family: The Quest for Intimacy
- The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships
- Ten Lessons to Transform Your Marriage: America’s Love Lab Experts Share Their Strategies for Strengthening Your Relationship
This warning is to book lovers who value books to keep as much as for their content. This is also for persons who plot to read this book and then sell it to get as much as possible back afterward to defray the cost of their book reading habit.
This book was made with a type of paper (pages and lining) that causes them to appear as though they are many years ancient. This impression would be based on the quality of the paper and it’s tan. Basically, the paper looks discolored or yellowed or faded, depending on your preferred terminology, even though this is technically not the case. Also, the pages are slightly warped already even though it’s only three weeks after its publication date. Open this book to read in your home and you suddenly reflect there’s something incorrect with your lighting. Also, the pages have been cut at the right side opposite the binding at many different widths, all varying within a range of about 1/4 inch. This makes the book look sloppy and cheap, in my opinion, and as though the pages are separating from the binding, even though they are not. It also pretty much assures that if you place your thumb at the right side of the pages to browse the book or to find a page, the pages will go by in clumps of 3 or 6 or even 10 pages at a time as a replacement for of the one or two you’re normally used to. The top and bottom edges of the pages are cut perfectly and the dust take in is and appears new, so the book is weird to look at overall.
I contacted the publisher and my nearest Barnes and Noble that had the book in stock to check on this book, since I obtained my copy through the mail and I thought I was sent a cheap, book club version of the book rather than a proper, mainstream version. I wanted to find a “proper” copy of the book and then return this one to the internet seller. A rep at Alfred A. Knopf (Random House), emailed me that this is the mainstream book and it was purposely made this way. The odd cutting of the page widths they called “rough cut”. I guess the word “rough” in this case is the politically right way to say “sloppily”. They said this type of cutting is more common now, but I don’t judge it. I suspect that this is like when you complain to a retailer and they exclaim to you that you are the first person to ever complain about this particular problem to bring shame on you into shrinking away and backing from your complaint. I’ve been buying books for many, many years and the last time I saw this type of page cutting was over 40 years ago when I was buying books from a particular book club as a teenager. I haven’t ever seen it since and would have preferred to never see it again.
So my advice? Before you buy this book through the mail, I suggest you find a copy at a local bookstore to see what you’ll be getting, because it’s not like any normal book. Also, because the paper looks faded and ancient and sloppy (in my opinion), you will no doubt get absolute bottom fee for the book in the aftermarket, if anyone will want to buy it at all. I would expect them to look at the pages, choose that the information in the book is out-dated, and immediately give it back. If you sell through the internet, I surmise most buyers will be very teed off (like me) when they receive the book from you and you’ll end up with a hassle trying to appease your buyer with a partial or full refund and return. Or get dinged in your public feedback. Or both.
If you absolutely have to have this book, I suggest waiting for the soft take in version to come out. It will no doubt look and feel new, just the way a new book is supposed to look and feel.
Concerning my two-star rating. No, I haven’t read this book yet, but felt it vital to place this warning mark up immediately to warn potential buyers who, like me, will be very teed off upon getting this book in the mail otherwise. In my rating, I assumed that the content is excellent. If it is, my rating is accurate. If not, I’ll drop it to one star later.
Suggestion to the publisher and resellers: This book should be sold with a warning mark and pictures to show potential customers on the internet what they’re getting before they’re surprised when getting their copy in the mail, and then it costing them their hard-earned money to return the book, because technically, there is no actual “defect” with the book.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
The title perfectly captures the childish scenery of American romance right now. Because, as the leader points out, we have the highest rate of divorce and remarriage in the world. And yet every day you see 40 year ancient characters on TV–or hear your friend–talk lacking irony of still expecting to find ‘the one’. As if everybody has a fated Prince or Princess Charming out there. And you can still find him or her. Even after 20 or 30 years of failed relationships. Not that persons were your fault!
And the losers in the childish game are, predictably, our real children.
Cherlin points out that American relationships are more fragile, even than persons in Europe. “American children born to married or cohabiting parents are more likely to see their parents’ partnership break up than are children in most additional countries” (p 17).
And the children do suffer. Persons children who don’t grow up with their biological father and mother have a 200% privileged rate of ending up in prison. Yes, 200%. Nor does remarriage help. Perhaps this is because “the addition of a stepparent increases stress in the family tree system” (p 22).
Americans have a long history of belief in personal liberty. Alas, when it comes to raising children, we have bought our personal liberty and happiness at the expense of our children.
And absorbing, thoughtful book, and well written, as well.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I bought this book after reading the article on infidelity in Time Magazine where it was cited. I guess I am not accustomed to reading books written by social scientists because he keeps reciting his thesis (and therefore, his conclusions) over and over again, like a mantra. That is my only complaint. Otherwise, well-reasoned, backed by research, with a lot of appealing conclusions, and it clarifies why so many disparate groups place such value in the institution of marriage in our globalized society. I am glad I read it, and I have recommended it to others.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
Andrew Cherlin’s “The Marriage-Go-Round” is a careful and well-researched sociological study examining how Americans keep shuffling partners. Why do we seem to marry, divorce, and re-marry with such frequency? The merry-go-round metaphor is apt — “frequent marriage, frequent divorce, more fleeting-term cohabiting relationships … Americans step on and off the carousel of intimate partnerships” he writes. He examines how attitudes towards marriage have changed drastically since the 1950s: “That people could skip from one live-in relationship to another, not because their partners were abusive or unfaithful but merely because that’s what they wanted, would have horrified many people.”
I had not realized the 1950s generation was to some extent atypical of longer term trends. The spouse-breadwinner wife-at-home combination of marrying early, having many children, with a honestly stable home life was a result of pent-up demand for families made during the Depression and World War II years. It produced an unprecedented baby boom generation of which both the leader and myself are members.
Mr. Cherlin’s plausible conclusion is that two sets of conflicting values are at play — one valuing commitment, another valuing personal choice. “… this distinctive pattern of multiple partnerships is related to the central place in America culture of both marriage and a kind of individualism that emphasizes self-expression and personal growth.” And I reflect he’s basically right.
He examines past patterns, officially authorized considerations such as divorce laws, gender relations, the impact of religion. He contrasts patterns in the United States with Western Europe, particularly Britain and France. He writes: “…the United States has one of the highest levels of both marriage and divorce of any Western nation, and these excise appear to have been privileged than in most additional Western countries since the early days of the nation.” The disappearance of factory jobs in America had a negative impact for the marriage prospects of men lacking college educations. Birth control had huge ramifications, allowing people to cohabit in long term sexual relationships lacking dread of pregnancy. Of particular concern, in his view, is how the turnover of partners affects children emotionally, and he’s sees greater incidences of behavior problems as children try to adjust to step-parents moving in and out of the house.
His solution, like his analysis, is careful and studied. “Slow down”, he writes, advising couples to be more careful before jettisoning their relationship as well as starting new ones. And this seems reasonable. Generally, the leader thinks like a market researcher, a demographer, a numbers guy, and this has its strengths (reasonable and well-argued conclusions) as well as weaknesses (to some extent dry writing style). There isn’t much emphasis on the whole aspect of dating. It’s like seeing romance as a product of statistical crosstabulations. I was surprised, but, that he omitted the theme of how television and media images have impacted marriage and divorce. If churchgoers attend church for perhaps an hour a week, but watch several hours of television each day, then wouldn’t media exposure be a logical and vital variable to study? Never before in history have people been exposed to such powerful images of idealized lifestyles, of gorgeous models both male and female. What impact has this had upon dating and mating? I reflect it’s astonishing how Americans seem to be closer to celebrities on television rather than spouses or real neighbors next door, and the whole issue of vicarious involvement with media images is, in my view, an vital variable which he should have considered.
Overall, an vital, well-researched and thought-provoking look at the changing institution of marriage.
Thomas W. Sulcer
leader of Common Sense II: How to Prevent the Three Types of Terrorism (Amazon/Kindle)
free now on the Internet: paste “common sense II” “sulcer” “google knol” into your search bar; I also have a romantic comedy screenplay dealing with dating issues as a “google knol”: paste “Fifteenth Reunion” “sulcer” “google knol” and hopefully you’ll find it.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
I just selected this book up because I was curious about what the leader might have to say about “The State of Marriage and Family tree in America Today”. After reading the back and the flaps, I bought it straight up. I had never heard of Andrew Cherlin before, but I looked him up and was favorably impressed by his credentials. More importantly, I appreciate his reasonable examination of marriage and family tree, two very high-emotion topics. He discusses marriage from many different angles, all comparing the pulls of two pillars of American society: individualism and traditional marriage. It seems that every page has fascinating tidbits and thoughts on it!
And let me just say that I for one very much like the ancient-fashioned rough pages, and that they didn’t present any difficulty at all for me in reading this brilliant book.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5