The Sconi

Sociologist Brad Wilcox is advocating for a return to traditional marriage, suggesting it can lead to greater happiness and prosperity. "There’s a big debate on whether marriage matters. Of course it does," he told the Badger Institute in an interview. Marriage is described by Wilcox as a "transformative institution" with norms that encourage better behavior.

Wilcox heads the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and is also a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he directs The Home Economics Project. His recent book, "Get Married," argues that declining marriage rates and lower birth rates in America contribute to increased loneliness and anxiety.

He supports his arguments with data showing married individuals are generally better off financially, socially, and emotionally. He challenges popular myths about single life being preferable and disputes the notion that family structure is inconsequential.

Wilcox criticizes influential figures who do not publicly support marriage despite its importance in their own lives. He identifies four groups most likely to marry: those with traditional views on personal responsibility, Asian-American immigrants who value family, religious believers, and "Strivers"—individuals with college degrees and values of hard work.

To address barriers to marriage, Wilcox suggests policy changes such as increasing career and technical education opportunities for young men, expanding the federal child tax credit for married parents, eliminating marriage penalties in public benefits, supporting school choice, and promoting a public campaign similar to anti-smoking efforts to advocate for finishing education before marrying and having children.

Wilcox emphasizes the need for public advocacy: “It will take courage to publicly defy the elite ‘wisdom’ on marriage, family life, and gender in the public square,” he writes. “But the future of the American way of life” depends on people doing it.

Patrick McIlheran is the Director of Policy at the Badger Institute. Permission to reprint is granted as long as the author and Badger Institute are properly cited.

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