Stephanie Coontz
Stephanie Coontz
Stephanie Coontzis an author, historian, and faculty member at Evergreen State College. She teaches history and family studies and is Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families, which she chaired from 2001-2004. Coontz has authored and co-edited several books about the history of the family and marriage...
easy filled life problems slip worry
Life is filled with trade-offs, and I worry that it's so easy to slip from descriptions of problems to one-size-fits-all prescription,
access fix hanging incredible people pool single
Even 25 years ago, most people were reliant on their friends to fix them up. People in their 40s and 50s don't want to be hanging out at bars. Now they have access to this incredible pool of single people their age.
conquered love obedience
Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage.
family
You have to make a family where you can find it.
control expectation men wives
There is still an expectation that men have to know what their wives are doing and have to control them,
bad fact good love magic mercenary money people phenomenon rich risk throw willing
This is a new phenomenon ? not the mercenary quality, but the fact that people are willing to risk this kind of money, just to say they're married. Love has been so idealized that at the top, the rich are willing to throw good money after bad to see if they can get the magic ring.
individual replace sum
The only thing that can replace (the emptiness) is a new sense of community. It's more than the sum of the individual losses.
depth early influence late
The depth and influence of the radicalism of the late 1960s and early 1970s are often exaggerated.
single people rewards
Singlehood is not longer a state to be overcome as soon as possible. It has its own rewards. Marriage is not the gateway to adulthood anymore. For most people it's the dessert - desirable, but no longer the main course.
documentaries opinion beavers
Contrary to popular opinion, 'Leave it to Beaver' was not a documentary.
sexy children stress
Women are told that we can have the most exciting, glamorous, demanding, rewarding careers ever but we also have to be constantly sexy and sexually interested, and when we have children we have to spend more time with our kids. Of course you can't really do all three of those things at once, so we feel this tremendous stress.
loss america way
Nostalgia wouldn't begin to capture your sense of loss, ... The Way We Really Are Coming to Terms With America's Changing Families.
ideas giving should
The idea that academics should remain ''above the fray'' only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.
senior men firsts
A significant minority of senior women I've interviewed say, 'Love the companionship, glad to live with him, but I spent my first marriage picking up after a man and I'm not going to do that anymore.