ABSTRACT
All is not well in the state of marriage—or, at least, that seems to be a widespread view. There is much discussion of our "high" divorce rate, the rise of cohabitation, and the number of children born outside marriage, which approaches a third of all births. As with so many public debates about domestic life, the present one talks of marriage and divorce in over-general terms and exaggerates the difficulties. Divorce rates are, in fact, widely variable within the United Kingdom: while those of south east England may be relatively high in the European Community league, Northern Ireland has one of the lowest rates in Europe. Since the earliest days of marriage research, there has been an interest in divorce. The chapter develops a rather different perspective, and takes the historical correlation between divorce rates and the rise of companionate marriage.
