What's the recipe for happiness? Making money? Living for yourself? Staying single without kids?
The institution of marriage is under attack in popular culture. A growing list of journalists and academics celebrate singleness, childlessness, and the pursuit of self-fulfillment as the path to happiness. Perhaps representing the minority opinion at UVA, sociology professor Brad Wilcox argues that the data is overwhelmingly contrary. Married people, he argues, live longer, healthier, happier lives compared to their unmarried peers.
We were honored to host Brad in conversation with TJC contributing editor Jim Bacon on Tuesday, July 23. They tackled these topics and other findings from Wilcox’s new book, Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization.
Thank you to all who joined us for this virtual event.
About the Speaker
Brad Wilcox is professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, where he directs the National Marriage Project. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. He was previously a research fellow at Yale University, a research associate at Princeton University, and a Civitas Fellow at the Brookings Institution. The author of Get Married: Why Americans Should Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families and Save Civilization, Wilcox studies marital quality, marital stability, and the impact of strong and stable marriages upon men, women, and children. The author and editor of six books, he has written for scientific journals such as The American Sociological Review and The Journal of Marriage and Family, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and National Review. Wilcox has an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University and a B.A. in government from the University of Virginia.