America Quotes by Stephanie Coontz

As an overly confident college freshman, the first time I received a below-average score on an exam was a needed wake-up call.

— Stephanie Coontz

For every nineteenth-century middle-class family that protected its wife and child within the family circle, there was an Irish ora German girl scrubbing floors…

— Stephanie Coontz

A primary motivation for introducing no-fault divorce was, in fact, to reduce perjury in the legal system.

— Stephanie Coontz

Graduating from high school is certainly a good idea, but it's no longer much protection against poverty.

— Stephanie Coontz

Almost all scholarly research carries practical and political implications. Better that we should spell these out ourselves than leave that task to people with…

— Stephanie Coontz

Investing in living-wage jobs and reducing the inequities between local school districts would give young people more, not less, incentive to postpone childbearing and…

— Stephanie Coontz

Hyper-parenting has many pitfalls. Overprotected and overpraised children may develop an inflated sense of entitlement.

— Stephanie Coontz

Social and economic policies constructed around the male breadwinner model have always disadvantaged women.

— Stephanie Coontz

When I speak on work-family issues to audiences around the country, some of the biggest complaints I hear come from individuals who are described…

— Stephanie Coontz

Extended families have never been the norm in America; the highest figure for extended-family households ever recorded in Americanhistory is 20 percent. Contrary to…

— Stephanie Coontz

Unilateral divorce has decreased the bargaining power of the person who wants the marriage to last and has not engaged in behavior that meets…

— Stephanie Coontz

The closer we get to achieving equality of opportunity between the sexes, the more clearly we can see that the next major obstacle to…

— 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."…

— Stephanie Coontz

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…

— Stephanie Coontz

Marriage can provide a bounty of emotional, practical, and financial support. But finding the right mate is no substitute for having friends and other…

— Stephanie Coontz