Culture Writer Anne Helen Peterson on ‘the Escalating Costs of Being Single in America’

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KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

According to a recent Pew study, a rising percentage of adults in the U.S. are living without a spouse or partner. But U.S. social policy still tends to value families over individuals – reflected in the structure of everything from our tax codes to social security and workplace benefits. As a result, according to the same Pew study, unpartnered adults generally have worse economic and social status outcomes than those who are married or cohabiting. In a story for The Goods by Vox, culture writer and author Anne Helen Petersen asks “what would it look like to create small systems of care for one another that go beyond one other individual?” Petersen joins us to consider that question and talk about the escalating costs of being single in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
0:48.3	A bigger proportion of U.S. adults are living without a spouse or partner, but social policy, our tax codes, workplace
0:55.6	benefits, still tend to value families over individuals. And a recent Pew study found unpartnered
1:02.2	adults generally have worse economic and social status outcomes. Culture writer and author
1:08.3	and Helen Peterson recently looked at why.
1:11.6	We'll talk with Peterson and hear from you.
1:14.6	Are social norms or policies making your status as a single person more challenging?
1:19.5	Forum is next'm Nina Kim.
1:35.8	It's expensive being single in America.
1:38.5	Besides shouldering all the bills and costs of just existing in society, says Anne Helen Peterson. Social policy like our
1:46.3	tax code, social security, and workplace benefits are structured around marriage and family. Peterson's
1:52.7	recent box piece looks at why so many single people, roughly a third of Americans, are finding
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