The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia TrapBasic Books, 1992 - 391 páginas This myth-shattering examination of two centuries of American family life banishes the misconceptions about the past that cloud current debate about "family values." "Leave It to Beaver" was not a documentary, Stephanie Coontz points out; neither the 1950s nor any other moment from our past presents workable models of how to conduct our personal lives today. Without minimizing the serious new problems in American families, Coontz warns that a consoling nostalgia for a largely mythical past of "traditional values" is a trap that can only cripple our capacity to solve today's problems. From "a man's home was his castle" to "traditional families never asked for a handout," this provocative book explodes cherished illusions about the past. Organized around a series of myths and half-truths that burden modern families, the book sheds new light on such contemporary concerns as parenting, privacy, love, the division of labor along gender lines, the black family, feminism, and sexual practice. Fascinating facts abound: In the nineteenth century, the age of sexual consent in some states was nine or ten, and alcoholism and drug abuse were more rampant than today ... Teenage childbearing peaked in the fabulous family-oriented 1950s ... Marriages in pioneer days lasted a shorter time than they do now. Placing current family dilemmas in the context of far-reaching economic, political, and demographic changes, The Way We Never Were shows that people have not suddenly and inexplicably "gone bad" and points to ways that we can help families do better. Seeing our own family pains as part of a larger social predicament means that we can stop the cycle of guilt or blame and face the real issues constructively, Coontz writes. The historical evidence reveals that families have always been in flux and often in crisis, and that families have been most successful wherever they have built meaningful networks beyond their own boundaries. |
Índice
The Way We Wish We Were Defining the Family Crisis | 11 |
Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet American Families in the 1950s | 23 |
My Mother Was a Saint Individualism Gender Myths and the Problem of Love | 42 |
We Always Stood on Our Own Two Feet Selfreliance and the American Family | 68 |
Strong Families the Foundation of a Virtuous Society Family Values and Civic Responsibility | 93 |
A Mans Home Is His Castle The Family and Outside Intervention | 122 |
BraBurners and Family Bashers Feminism Working Women Consumerism and the Family | 149 |
First Comes Love Then Comes Marriage Then Comes Mary with a Baby Carriage Marriage Sex and Reproduction | 180 |
Toxic Parents Supermoms and Absent Fathers Putting Parenting in Perspective | 207 |
Pregnant Girls Wilding Boys Crack Babies and the Underclass The Myth of Black Family Collapse | 232 |
The Crisis Reconsidered | 255 |
Inventing a New Tradition | 283 |
Notes | 289 |
377 | |
381 | |
Outras edições - Ver tudo
The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap Stephanie Coontz Pré-visualização limitada - 1992 |
The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap Stephanie Coontz Pré-visualização limitada - 2016 |
The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap Stephanie Coontz Visualização de excertos - 1992 |
Palavras e frases frequentes
abuse adult African Americans Allan Carlson America New York American Family argues baby Barbara Ehrenreich Basic Books behavior Black Family Cambridge changes chil child childrearing culture David decades decline divorce domestic dren early economic employment example fami family values fathers federal female feminism Feminist gender gender roles Gilded Age Herbert Gutman historian History household housing income increase individual Institute Journal labor liberal Linda Gordon lives male marital marriage ment middle-class modern moral mothers myth Nancy Cott National Weekly Edition Newsweek nineteenth century nuclear family Olympian Oxford University Press parents percent Policy political poor Post National Weekly poverty Pregnancy problems rates reform Research responsibility Revolution Richard Sennett roles sexual sexual revolution social society Stephanie Coontz teen Teenage tion traditional family trends two-parent urban Washington Post Washington Post National welfare woman workers youth
Referências a este livro
Avoiding Politics: How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life Nina Eliasoph Pré-visualização limitada - 1998 |