So this doesn't even factor in people that are living togheter, like in a registered partnership (that is how we call it in the Netherlands) or other form?
A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
31–40 of 226 posts
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#32Mostly just economics, is my wager. In a classic agrarian economy, having a spouse and making children works out -- more children = more hands = more work done = more food or more product to market. In a modern "pure" capitalist industrial/service economy, the economic model doesn't pay for the cost of the reproduction of the labour it depends on. So not a surprise when people do the same cost-benefit analysis for th…
It really is this. But its stopped being a Western specific problem decades ago. This is a major world issue that is changing the status quo of goepolitics. Some major players on the world stage will be shells of their former selves very, very quickly.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#33The trend of less education means less marriage is interesting. I think that tells me the root cause is that 25% of 40 year olds are not financially attractive mates. I think this speaks to a broader trend of men not being able to meet the traditional expectations of the breadwinner in an increasingly precarious economy.
>25% of 40 year olds are not financially attractive mates. Is this a peculiarity of the US? Income was never an issue when i got the hots for someone...especially when things turned into long-term commitment. In fact, quite the opposite.
You're probably a man. Women care a lot about income.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#34I think marriage is overrated. Just a construct of society. You can have kids with a partner, but really no reason to formalize it with “marriage”. I guess there are tax reasons though that make it more logical though.
There's also other rights/benefits that come with it like implicit transfer of estate, access to a loved one in a hospital due to being "family", and ability to share insurance.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#35I have a plan to bring these numbers down AND horrify the people who think this is terrible: Mass group marriages!
I will handle the mass divorces a few weeks later ok? Discount rates!
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#36The finances of marriage don't make sense until, what, $75k/yr or more? If you need any sort of public assistance, marriage is a severe eligibility fence.
Maybe people are just aiming too high. Sometimes you have to know your limitations and know where you fit. Not everyone is a high achiever and not everyone thought education was going to deliver a better sociology economic potential for them. It’s unfortunate that society today misleads youth in thinking they can make their own reality and that there are shortcuts to success for all. Some are lucky but most are not.…
You see, your thought processes are part of the problem.
> misleads youth in thinking they can make their own reality and that there are shortcuts to success for all.
Many people, like myself, are not shooting for "success". We just want to live and hang out with our family and friends. That is success. And the economic structure makes that impossible because everyone else has the idea that success means having to figure out if they can retire on $3.5 million. But in doing so it affects people like us who want to retire in the place we grew up with our family. But people who this "success" is having a lot of sht come in and buy a house and turn it into an AirBnB rental.
The reality is that capitalist advertising keeps pushing the idea of what success is out further and further. So don't blame "the youth" blame people like yourself for telling everyone else what success looks like.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#37Just wait until you see how many of us can't afford houses and will be destitute at 60
marriage makes it possible for some that couldn't afford houses to be able to do so, by pooling resources together.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#38Mostly just economics, is my wager. In a classic agrarian economy, having a spouse and making children works out -- more children = more hands = more work done = more food or more product to market. In a modern "pure" capitalist industrial/service economy, the economic model doesn't pay for the cost of the reproduction of the labour it depends on. So not a surprise when people do the same cost-benefit analysis for th…
> I personally knew several women in their late 30s and 40s who ended up leaving partners or leaving the dating scene because the men they were finding were not interested in or capable of being fathers.
Perhaps they weren’t interested in the challenge and issues that come with a woman in her late 30s and early 40s attempting to conceive a natural healthy baby while risking her own life as well. I bet these men in a similar age range of these women are looking for partners and potential mothers in their 20s and early 30s. There’s less of chance of issues and conceiving is much much easier as the women aren’t premenopausal.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#39I have a plan to bring these numbers down AND horrify the people who think this is terrible: Mass group marriages!
Those have happened in the past. I think they are usually linked to cults and mass suicide pacts.
Re: A record-high share of 40-year-olds in the U.S. have never been married
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
>25% of 40 year olds are not financially attractive mates. Is this a peculiarity of the US? Income was never an issue when i got the hots for someone...especially when things turned into long-term commitment. In fact, quite the opposite.
You're probably a man. Women care a lot about income.
And status. Which income is a component of.