Patriarchy, Power, and Pay: The Transformation of American Families, 1800-2015

• Published in: Demography Vol. 52; no. 6; pp. 1797 - 1823
• Main Author: Ruggles, Steven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer 01.12.2015; Springer US; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: 19th century; 20th century; Adult; Age; Cohabitation; Demography; Divorce; Economic opportunities; Employment; Estimates; Families & family life; Family - history; Family Characteristics - history; Family owned businesses; Female; Geography; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Households; Humans; Impact analysis; Income; Income - history; Labor; Male; Marriage; Medicine/Public Health; Patriarchy; Population; Population Economics; Power; Power, Psychological; PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS; Social Class - history; Social conditions & trends; Social Sciences; Sociology; Statistical analysis; Technological change; Transformation; Transformations; United States; Wages & salaries; Wives; Women; Working women; World War II; United States; United States > US; Family; Wage labor; Marriage; Relative income
• ISSN: 0070-3370; 1533-7790; 1533-7790
• DOI: 10.1007/s13524-015-0440-z

This article proposes explanations for the transformation of American families over the past two centuries. I describe the impact on families of the rise of male wage labor beginning in the nineteenth century and the rise of female wage labor in the twentieth century. I then examine the effects of decline in wage labor opportunities for young men and women during the past four decades. I present new estimates of a precipitous decline in the relative income of young men and assess its implications for the decline for marriage. Finally, I discuss explanations for the deterioration of economic opportunity and speculate on the impact of technological change on the future of work and families.