American ideology focuses on the importance of marriage and family values and assumes that the family is at the center of almost everyone s life. how does this compare to the way people really live? a. marriage remains central to people s lives, but family values are less important than in the past. b. family values remain very important, but many more people are choosing not to get married than did so in the past. c. both marriage and the family are central to the lives of the majority of americans in much the same way they were in the distant past. average americans are still married for the vast majority of their lives. d. increasingly, both marriage and the family are less central to the lives of average americans.