“Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with a vested interest in stressing only some of the implications and falsifying others. The idea that academics should remain "above the fray" only gives ideologues license to misuse our work.” PeopleGivingShouldIdeasPoliticalPoliticsInterestResearchTasksStressPracticalsCarrieSpellsLicenseImplicationsAcademiaMisuseFrayVested InterestsScholarlyIdeologues Author:Stephanie Coontz
“Families have always been in flux and often in crisis; they have never lived up to nostalgic notions about "the way things used tobe." But that doesn't mean the malaise and anxiety people feel about modern families are delusions, that everything would be fine if we would only realize that the past was not all it's cracked up to be. . . . Even if things were not always right in families of the past, it seems clear that some things have newly gone wrong.” PeopleIfsWayFeelsMeanSeemsWould BePastUsedRealizingGoneClearModernFineAnxietyCrisisNotionDelusionNostalgicCrackedFluxMalaiseModern Family Author:Stephanie Coontz
“There is a lack of collective support or social support for working people in America. We're told, "You can be, as an individual, anything you want to be, but it must be at something else's - or somebody else's - expense."” PeopleWantAmericaIndividualSocialSupportCollectivesExpenses Author:Stephanie Coontz
“There is one group of people - social conservatives, religious conservatives - who honestly feel that women's place is in the home and that wives should submit to their husbands.” PeopleHomeReligiousWifeHusbandHonestlySubmit Author:Stephanie Coontz
“I think that divorce is a vital escape hatch for people stuck in marriage and it is not a sentence of doom either for adults or children. The community should develop better support systems for saving or restoring potentially healthy marriages.But we should also help people who decide to divorce have healthier partings.” PeopleThinkingChildrenHelpingCommunitySupportHealthyDivorceStuckDoomParting Author:Stephanie Coontz
“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.” PeopleStatesCoursesOvercomingRewardsAdulthoodDesirableSingleDessertBeing SingleGatewaysMain Course Author:Stephanie Coontz
