Sephanie Coontz Summary

Sephanie Coontz covers the American romanticizing of the past that occurs in modern culture through pointing out the reality of our history, specifically in regards to the union and institution of marriage. Essentially, we were never that great; some may argue, Coontz in fact argues, we are the greatest we have ever been (still not that great) and nostalgia gets in the way of us recognizing that fact. To begin, Coontz addresses the issue surrounding the history of the non-nuclear family in regards to single parent families, as well as the oftentimes resulting step families. Two parent homes were rare due to high death rates and remarriages were common, which brought many step siblings and “non-traditional” families. The use of “traditional” …show more content…
This notion of separate spheres instilled a belief that women were incapable of things that men could do and vice versa. The two genders existed in entirely separate parts of society, hence the term, yet one could only reach the peak of wholeness through marriage. This lead to a true disconnect between the genders where they were forced into marriage young and did not understand each other in the slightest. Furthermore, the separate spheres created a power dynamic that could be taken as encouraging abuse in all aspects of life. The sphere that men occupied considered them as sexual beings where the sphere that women occupied considered them to be entirely sexless, essentially encouraging rape. Similarly, women were forced to be economically dependent on men, which immediately set up a problematic power structure within the relationships that gave men more freedom. These overtly taught and covertly socialized ideals give good reason to believe that the idealizing of the past proves