Cohabitation Nation: Gender, Class, and the Remaking of Relationships

“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 in couples who choose to commit to and live with one another, forgoing 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 on in-depth interviews, Sharon Sassler and Amanda Jayne Miller provide an inside view of how cohabiting relationships play out before and after couples move in together, using couples’ stories to explore the he said/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 the couples themselves, Cohabitation Nation offers a riveting and sometimes counterintuitive look at the way we live now.

• Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love, and Marriage among African Americans and Latinos
• The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
• Cheap Sex: The Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy
• The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier and Better Off Financially
• Feuds about Families: Conservative, Centrist, Liberal, and Feminist Perspectives
• Families without Fathers: Fatherhood, Marriage and Children in American Society
• Modern Romance
• Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage, with a New Preface
• American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus
• Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, 2nd Edition with an Update a Decade Later