I suggest “The Way We Never Were” by Coontz if anyone is inclined to read about the sort of manufactured history surrounding American society and particularly the family unit. In some ways the past was better, but we somehow managed to get rid of the good parts, make up parts that never happened, sidestep the bad, and make the present worse.
I’d suggest reading about it before making such a statement. Understand that the single income created its own problems. It kept women isolated thanks to the way postwar housing developed, kept them out of the workforce, dismantled their social network, resulted in suburbs that drove longer commutes, etc. women have had it hard in society for quite a while, but the separated family unit made it harder. These things also dismantled the “village” support network that people had, along with extended family and community that could help people.
Yeah, the wealth that allowed the luxuries of a single family home in the ‘burbs was great, but it came at a price.
I suggest “The Way We Never Were” by Coontz if anyone is inclined to read about the sort of manufactured history surrounding American society and particularly the family unit. In some ways the past was better, but we somehow managed to get rid of the good parts, make up parts that never happened, sidestep the bad, and make the present worse.
The only good parts about the past is that families could be supported on a single income. Pretty much everything else was worse.
I’d suggest reading about it before making such a statement. Understand that the single income created its own problems. It kept women isolated thanks to the way postwar housing developed, kept them out of the workforce, dismantled their social network, resulted in suburbs that drove longer commutes, etc. women have had it hard in society for quite a while, but the separated family unit made it harder. These things also dismantled the “village” support network that people had, along with extended family and community that could help people.
Yeah, the wealth that allowed the luxuries of a single family home in the ‘burbs was great, but it came at a price.