Pew: Rising share of Americans see women raising children on their own, cohabitation as bad for society

“47% of U.S. adults say single women raising children on their own is generally a bad thing for society, an increase of 7 percentage points…. Roughly a quarter of U.S. adults (24%) now say that couples living together without being married is generally bad for society, up 5 points from three years ago.” - Pew

Discussion

Whatever factors have nudged attitudes in this direction, it’s not likely to have been policy or policymakers. Rules can change behavior, but they don’t change what people think and value (at least, not toward what the rules require … often the other way). The influences that shape how people think are where the real ‘culture war’ is fought. Elections, protests, and political parties do contribute, but not very much. From where I sit, it looks like those most stirred up about our cultural shifts are, on the whole, way too focused on the least important factors (the coercive ones vs. the persuasive ones).

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.