Shifting Baselines and Marriage

Marriage is nothing like it used to be. That's true. But lots of things we consider to be new and unprecedented are actually traditional (e.g., adultery, single parenting, politicians having affairs). And the things we consider to be old-fashioned are actually new (e.g., marrying for love, the expectation of fidelity). Historian Stephanie Coontz spoke about the warped view of marriage's past at Seattle's Town Hall last month: Courting Disaster: The Worldwide Revolution in Love, Sex, and Marriage, which NPR made available online. Listening to Coontz reminds us of the marital baselines from the past and the reasons to be optimistic about the future.