This tale, mythological as it is, offers a glimpse of the pre-Christian pagan view of marriage. It was, first and foremost, transactional. It was, also, predicated on an imbalance of power in a world where men had all the power and women had none. Only one side’s desires and wants mattered. Much of our ideal of good and happy marriages, by contrast, comes from a Christian perspective on this institution. And now, in his new book, Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization, sociologist (and director of the National Marriage Project at UVA) Brad Wilcox shows clearly that marriage is the quintessential Christian realist institution.
To be clear, Wilcox shies away from phrasing it in quite such strong terms. Based on extensive survey data, he argues there are four groups whose marriages are thriving in America today: the Strivers, the Faithful, Asian Americans, and Conservatives. Wilcox’s Strivers are the highly educated elites—those who chose to pursue higher education, at least at the college level, but often beyond. The Faithful are a catch-all category Wilcox uses for all who are religious—not only Christians, but also Jews, Muslims, etc. The Asian Americans he considers include those of Indian descent, whose family-first ethic comes through in their attitude to marriage. Finally, the Conservatives are those with right-of-center views on the world.
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