Why so many marriages fail in the US

[Belacqua]

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Here it is: marriage in the United States fails because it's an institution that isn't compatible with equal rights, along with separation of church and state.

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I think I would put a lot more emphasis on economic matters. Old-fashioned marriage isn't compatible with modern capitalism.

If women's liberation means that women are more free to live as they wish, that's obviously a good thing. In practice, though, it has largely meant that women now have to work at jobs just as much as men do. To maintain what we used to call a middle-class lifestyle, both partners have to work outside the home. Corporations began to advertise women's lib when it became clear that they could double their workforce and pay the same amount of benefits. Corporate profits continue to rise, productivity continues to rise, but workers' purchasing power does not. 

So to be clear, I am NOT saying that the world was better when middle-class women could only be housewives. Freedom of choice is good. The trouble is that currently most couples have no choice but to work for others. 

Two careers doesn't mean double the stress -- more like ten times more. If one partner gets transferred or has a chance to move up in a new location, what will the other do? Childcare gets hired out. The necessity of moving for work means that extended families become impractical -- grandma is across the country and can't help out. 

Moreover, capitalism thrives on personal acquisition. It encourages the atomization of society by defining success as the ability to get what you as an individual want. Fulfillment is no longer defined as contributing to the stability and flourishing of a group. It's completely understandable that a Walmart employee doesn't care much about the flourishing of Walmart -- such employees are cogs in a machine. But it's sad that family members also are more likely to bail out of their family group when they feel they want something for themselves. Too often, some kind of lifestyle they've seen in the movies. 

If we could define success differently -- as including the flourishing of those around us -- society would look very different.