Marital Privilege : Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mayeri, Serena.

Series:

Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marriage law--United States.

Marriage law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"The United States is unusual among wealthy western nations in the degree to which the law channels public benefits and private economic resources through marriage. This remains so despite seismic changes in American family life in the last several decades of the twentieth century. During this period, marriage rates declined while divorce and nonmarital childbearing soared. Social movements--for racial and economic justice, women's and gay rights and liberation, civil liberties, and reproductive freedom--transformed the legal landscape. In Marital Privilege, Serena Mayeri tells the stories of parents and partners, activists and lawyers who challenged the legal primacy of marriage. They made innovative constitutional claims in courts and launched grassroots efforts to change laws and practices that penalized nonmarital relationships. But even though reforms eliminated the most visible discrimination against women, people of color, and children born to unmarried parents--and, eventually, against gay and lesbian Americans--marriage's privileged status endured. Because marriage increasingly correlated with education and wealth, marital primacy intensified racial and economic inequality. Marital Privilege explains how, as American law selectively incorporated principles of liberty and equality, the benefits of marriage became increasingly unavailable to those who needed them most."--Dust jacket.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

Part I

1. Challenging Marital Supremacy

2. Hapless and Innocent Children: Birth Status and Welfare

Part II

3. Making Marriage Safe for Equality: Coupling and Dissolution

4. Redefining the Household: Communal Living, Government Benefits, and Housing

5. Double Standards: Nonmarital Sex and Public Employment

Part III

6. Single Mothers and Responsible Citizenship

7. Unmarried Fathers and Sex Equality

Part IV

8. The Functional Family

9. Securing Marital Privilege

Conclusion

Epilogue

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-300-28362-8

OCLC:

1523375071