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Don't give up on marriage now
And consider this new-coalition possibility: Gays and lesbians, having fought bravely and successfully for the right to marry, can now by their leadership and example help the nation as a whole to rediscover marriage's promise. But how sad if, on the very eve of their astonishing victory for marriag...
The Next Culture War
The Religious Penumbra Revisited
Marriage and Happiness: David Blankenhorn Interviews Charles Murray
Towards the middle of the conversation they turn in earnest to the task of answering a critical question, which in Murray's work is inevitably tied to the pursuit of happiness: Can marriage be saved? And yes, both he and Blankenhorn believe that the social good of marriage should be available to all...
Is the Marriage Gap Driving Inequality? David Blankenhorn Interviews Lawrence Mead
Moving out of discussing the poverty class, David and Larry look at the growing marital gap in the middle class. Upscale America has come to reflect traditional values of educational attainment, financial saving, marriage, and family, while the remaining 70 percent of America slips out of this conve...
What Is Marriage? A Conversation with Linda McClain
Steinfels & Blankenhorn, talking marriage
As part of the New Conversation on Marriage Initiative at the Institute for American Values, Peter Steinfels recently joined David Blankenhorn for a discussion on whether liberals will help to save marriage (the Institutes Amy Ziettlow, an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, also too...
Does Championing Marriage Exclude Single Parents?
That rising income inequality is a likely driver for many of the risk factors for children in single-parent households. The "Call for a New Conversation" echoes that concern: "We propose a new conversation that re-establishes the link between marriage and money, the nest and the nest egg. What econo...
From Fighting Same-Sex Marriage to Forging a Pro-Marriage Coalition for All
Though he has long been a foe of same-sex marriage, Mr. Blankenhorn, who was raised in Mississippi and attended Harvard, never invoked a religious justification and did not oppose civil unions for gay men and lesbians. Instead, he argued that heterosexual marriage was society's most important instit...
Can the President Have a Marriage Agenda Without Talking About What Marriage Is?
"The President's Marriage Agenda for the Forgotten Sixty Percent," despite the impression its title might give, was released Sunday not by the Obama administration but by the Institute for American Values and the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia... The leadership of the Instit...
Marriage isn't 'just a piece of paper'
Marriage is about much more than a church service, a big party, and a fancy dress. It’s the best social institution we humans have come up with so far to address the needs that men and women have to bond with one another and their children’s needs to have their mothers and fathers in their...
Census Data Reveals New Geography of Marriage for Americans
A new wave of U.S. Census Bureau data reveals some interesting trends in marriage and divorce rates by region. Ray Suarez discusses what data tell us about the institution of marriage with David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values and Elaine Tyler May of the University of Minnesota.
Declaration of David Blankenhorn as Expert Witness for Defendant (Prop 8 Trial)
Does Divorce Make People Happy? : Findings from a Study of Unhappy Marriages
Does divorce typically make adults happier than staying in an unhappy marriage? Many Americans assume so. "Does Divorce Make People Happy?" represents the first serious effort to investigate this assumption empirically. The finding? Unhappily married adults who divorced or separated were no happier,...
The Experts' Story of Courtship
The new body of relationship research seldom if ever seeks to identify and examine those attitudes and practices which lead to stable marriages.
The Experts' Story of Courtship
The new body of relationship research seldom if ever seeks to identify and examine those attitudes and practices which lead to stable marriages.