Chapter 15
1. Why did more and more women, especially wives, begin to work in the 70s? How did this change marital roles?
2. What other things occurred in the 60s and 70s that changed the role of marriage?
Chapter 16
**1. How do you feel about marriage being "displaced from its pivotal position in personal and social life." (p. 280)? Is this good/bad for our society?
Chapter 17
**1. Coontz states, "the big problem is how hard it is to achieve equal relationships in a society whose work policies, school schedules, and social programs were constructed on the assumption that male breadwinner families would always be the norm." (p. 299 - 300). What does she mean? If you agree that this is the case, can/should we change this? How could it be changed?
Conclusion
1. If it is true that, "using averages to give personal advice to individuals or to construct social policy for all is not wise." (p. 310) then what's the point? What have we/could we gain from reading the statistics?
2. Do you agree that "it is especially important that men and women now begin their relationship as friends and build it on the basis of mutual respect." (p. 311)?
Our Conclusions
1. So, what do we know now that is useful to us as members of families, as members of society?
Remember evaluation papers due over Marriage, A History on February 25.