As soon as love became the driving force behind marriage, people began to demand the right to remain single if they had not found love or to divorce if they fell out of love. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
“Like it or not, today we are all pioneers, picking our way through uncharted and unstable territory. The old rules are no longer reliable guides to work out modern gender roles and build a secure foundation for marriage. Wherever it… — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
A primary motivation for introducing no-fault divorce was, in fact, to reduce perjury in the legal system. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Graduating from high school is certainly a good idea, but it's no longer much protection against poverty. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Hyper-parenting has many pitfalls. Overprotected and overpraised children may develop an inflated sense of entitlement. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
Social and economic policies constructed around the male breadwinner model have always disadvantaged women. — Stephanie Coontz Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
