Stephanie Coontz

Rising inequality has changed family dynamics for all socioeconomic groups.

The growing diversity of family life comes with new possibilities as well as new challenges.

Our goal should be to develop work-life policies that enable people to put their gender values into practice. So let's stop arguing about the hard choices women make and help more women and men avoid such hard choices.

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

Establishing a 'livable wage' floor would immediately reduce the gap in average pay between American women and men.

If the ascent of women has been much exaggerated, so has the descent of men.

People feel better when their spouses have good friendships, over and above the effects of their own friendships.

Nostalgia is a very human trait.

I am not arguing that women ought to 'settle.' I am arguing that we can now expect more of a mate than we could when we depended on men for our financial security, social status, and sense of accomplishment.

Having more education is one of the biggest predictors of women having careers.

Over the ages, some societies have accorded far less value and respect to singles than to married individuals.

Cooking ought to be, quite literally, child's play. And every child ought to have access to the game. Just don't tell them it's healthy.

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

When you can't change what's bothering you, one typical response is to convince yourself that it doesn't actually bother you.

As a historian, I've spent much of my career warning people about the dangers of nostalgia.

Educated parents find more time to spend with their children by reducing time dedicated to home-based activities that involve little interaction with children.

Presidents Reagan and the first George Bush never used the vile language of some Trump supporters, but both blamed scarce resources and decaying communities on 'welfare queens' and black criminals like Willie Horton.

No single choice about how to organize work and family life is right or possible - for every family. And every choice has tradeoffs.

If we want to revive and achieve the American Dream, we need to change a situation in which the people whose hard work makes this country run cannot earn a living wage, while bankers, speculators, and corporate elites - the real 'takers' in today's society - skim off far more than their fair share.

We need to push for work-family practices and policies that allow individuals to customize their work lives according to their changing individual preferences and family obligations, not just their traditional gender roles.