Synopses & Reviews
"This is the most important study ever written on motherhood and marriage among low-income urban women. Edin and Kefalas's timely, engaging, and well-written book is a careful ethnographic study that paints an indelible portrait of family life in poor communities and, in the process, provides incredible insights on the explosion of mother-only families within these communities."and#151;William Julius Wilson, author of
The Bridge over the Racial Divide"This book provides the most insightful and comprehensive account I have read of the reasons why many low-income women postpone marriage but don't postpone childbearing. Edin and Kefalas do an excellent job of illuminating the changing meaning of marriage in American society."and#151;Andrew Cherlin, author of Public and Private Families
and#147;Edin and Kefalas provide an original and convincing argument for why low-income women continue to embrace motherhood while postponing and raising the bar on marriage. This book is a must read for students of the family as well as for policy makers and practitioners who hope to rebuild marriage in low-income communities.and#8221;and#151;Sara McLanahan, author of Growing Up with a Single Parent
"Promises I Can Keep is the best kind of exploration: honest, incisive and ever-so-original. It'll make you squirm, and that's a good thing, especially since Edin and Kefalas try to make sense of the biggest demographic shift in the last half century. This is a must read for anyone interested in the tangled intersection of family and public policy."and#151;Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here
Synopsis
"We have fun and we enjoy each other's company, so why shouldn't we just move in together?" -- Lauren, from Cohabitation Nation
Living together is a typical romantic rite-of-passage in the United States today. In fact, census data shows a 37 percent increase of couples who choose to commit to and live with one another, foregoing marriage. And yet we know very little about this new 'normal' in romantic life--when do people decide to move in together, why do they do so, and what happens to them over time?
Drawing upon in-depth interviews, Sharon Sassler and Amanda Jayne Miller provide us with an inside view of how cohabiting relationships play out before and after couples move in together, using couples' stories to explore the "he said" and "she said" of romantic dynamics. Delving into hot button issues--such as housework, birth control, finances, and expectations for the future-- Sassler and Miller deliver surprising insights about the impact of class and education on how relationships unfold. Showcasing the words, thoughts, and conflicts of couples themselves, Cohabitation Nation offers a riveting and sometimes counterintuitive look at the way we live now.
Synopsis
Millie Acevedo bore her first child before the age of 16 and dropped out of high school to care for her newborn. Now 27, she is the unmarried mother of three and is raising her kids in one of Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods. Would she and her children be better off if she had waited to have them and had married their father first? Why do so many poor American youth like Millie continue to have children before they can afford to take care of them?
Over a span of five years, sociologists Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas talked in-depth with 162 low-income single moms like Millie to learn how they think about marriage and family. Promises I Can Keep offers an intimate look at what marriage and motherhood mean to these women and provides the most extensive on-the-ground study to date of why they put children before marriage despite the daunting challenges they know lie ahead.
About the Author
Kathryn Edin is Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and coauthor of Making Ends Meet (1997). Maria Kefalas is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Working-Class Heroes (California, 2003).
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. and#147;Before We Had a Baby . . .and#8221;
2. and#147;When I Got Pregnant . . .and#8221;
3. How Does the Dream Die?
4. What Marriage Means
5. Labor of Love
6. How Motherhood Changed My Life
Conclusion: Making Sense of Single Motherhood
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: City, Neighborhood, and Family Characteristics and Research Methods
Appendix B: Interview Guide
Notes
References
Index