Davis 19 prenuptial agreement undermined a more fundamental value of trust. Moreover,most interviewees embedded their discussion within comments on the fragility of marriage in the competitive and permissive market society in which they lived. Guangzhou and Shanghai are huge metropolitan cities and marriages there confront economic,social,and cultural conditions unlike those in rural vil- lages or small towns.But I am not using these interviews to generalize to all of China,but rather to identify the concerns that individuals highlight when they discuss contemporary marriages under conditions of pervasive competi- tion and insecurity.These men and women often spoke approvingly of the new freedom for unhappy couples to divorce,but like the 2011 SPC interpre- tation they did not endorse the use of loyalty agreements to create trust and many (especially among the youngest cohort)were confident that in their own marriages they enjoyed such trust.Yet even as they felt that their spouse was trustworthy,they were aware that in contrast to earlier decades it had become more difficult to sustain a satisfying marriage given the greater free- doms,mobility,and temptationsi of the current era. Conclusion Over the past 50 years,European and North American societies have wit- nessed dramatic changes in the institution of marriage.Marriage rates have fallen and non-marital cohabitation has increased among all socioeconomic groups.Most striking is the increase in births to unmarried women or women not in a legal relationship with the father.In countries as economically and culturally diverse as Mexico,France,Sweden,and Slovenia,fewer than half of children are born to married mothers(Social Policy Division,2012).This pattern of non-marital childbearing has also coincided with dramatic declines in overall fertility(Lesthaeghe,2010).In many parts of the world,therefore, the new millennium has simultaneously witnessed very low rates of child- bearing and the delinking of procreation from marriage,outcomes that are variably attributed to uncertain job prospects for men,rising levels of educa- tion and employment of women,easier access to effective contraception as well as cultural shifts that destigmatize both childlessness and out-of-wed- lock births(Cherlin,2004;Cohen,2002;Coontz,2004). At the most general level,these recent changes can be viewed as a con- tinuation of earlier shifts away from patriarchal marriages anchored in com- munity obligations and male dominance (Burgess,Locke,and Thomas, 1963).But for some scholars,the changes since 1970 indicate a more radical "deinstitutionalization"of marriage without any clear"reinstitutionalization" around generally accepted new norms for household and family formation Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12,2014Davis 19 prenuptial agreement undermined a more fundamental value of trust. Moreover, most interviewees embedded their discussion within comments on the fragility of marriage in the competitive and permissive market society in which they lived. Guangzhou and Shanghai are huge metropolitan cities and marriages there confront economic, social, and cultural conditions unlike those in rural vil￾lages or small towns. But I am not using these interviews to generalize to all of China, but rather to identify the concerns that individuals highlight when they discuss contemporary marriages under conditions of pervasive competi￾tion and insecurity. These men and women often spoke approvingly of the new freedom for unhappy couples to divorce, but like the 2011 SPC interpre￾tation they did not endorse the use of loyalty agreements to create trust and many (especially among the youngest cohort) were confident that in their own marriages they enjoyed such trust. Yet even as they felt that their spouse was trustworthy, they were aware that in contrast to earlier decades it had become more difficult to sustain a satisfying marriage given the greater free￾doms, mobility, and temptations 诱惑 of the current era. Conclusion Over the past 50 years, European and North American societies have wit￾nessed dramatic changes in the institution of marriage. Marriage rates have fallen and non-marital cohabitation has increased among all socioeconomic groups. Most striking is the increase in births to unmarried women or women not in a legal relationship with the father. In countries as economically and culturally diverse as Mexico, France, Sweden, and Slovenia, fewer than half of children are born to married mothers (Social Policy Division, 2012). This pattern of non-marital childbearing has also coincided with dramatic declines in overall fertility (Lesthaeghe, 2010). In many parts of the world, therefore, the new millennium has simultaneously witnessed very low rates of child￾bearing and the delinking of procreation from marriage, outcomes that are variably attributed to uncertain job prospects for men, rising levels of educa￾tion and employment of women, easier access to effective contraception as well as cultural shifts that destigmatize both childlessness and out-of-wed￾lock births (Cherlin, 2004; Cohen, 2002; Coontz, 2004). At the most general level, these recent changes can be viewed as a con￾tinuation of earlier shifts away from patriarchal marriages anchored in com￾munity obligations and male dominance (Burgess, Locke, and Thomas, 1963). But for some scholars, the changes since 1970 indicate a more radical “deinstitutionalization” of marriage without any clear “reinstitutionalization” around generally accepted new norms for household and family formation Downloaded from mcx.sagepub.com at Yale University Library on June 12, 2014