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  • Racial Justice
    • The Only Common Denominator of American Conservatism is Anti-Blackness
      The Only Common Denominator of American Conservatism is Anti-Blackness
    • Nostalgia Voters? Not Really. Trump and His Supporters Value This More Than the Past
      Nostalgia Voters? Not Really. Trump and His Supporters Value This More Than the Past
    • Reconsidering Reagan’s Racism: Trump is the Culmination of The Gipper’s GOP
      Reconsidering Reagan’s Racism: Trump is the Culmination of The Gipper’s GOP
  • Politics/Law
    • The Only Common Denominator of American Conservatism is Anti-Blackness
      The Only Common Denominator of American Conservatism is Anti-Blackness
    • Trump’s Nominee to Fill RBG’s Seat Is Unfit. By Definition.
      Trump’s Nominee to Fill RBG’s Seat Is Unfit. By Definition.
    • Nostalgia Voters? Not Really. Trump and His Supporters Value This More Than the Past
      Nostalgia Voters? Not Really. Trump and His Supporters Value This More Than the Past
  • Religious Liberty
    • Exclusive: Why Did Chicago Public Schools Just Quietly Drop Transcendental Meditation?
      Exclusive: Why Did Chicago Public Schools Just Quietly Drop Transcendental Meditation?
    • Texas Faith Leaders Say Governor’s Use of Pandemic to Ban Abortion is an Attack on Religious Freedom (Updated)
      Texas Faith Leaders Say Governor’s Use of Pandemic to Ban Abortion is an Attack on Religious Freedom (Updated)
    • Whether it’s Celebrated by CT or Denied in NYC, Evangelical Proselytizing Isn’t in Quarantine
      Whether it’s Celebrated by CT or Denied in NYC, Evangelical Proselytizing Isn’t in Quarantine
  • Sex/Gender/Justice
    • A Devil’s Dozen of the Best ‘New Religion Journalism’ Books of the Decade
      A Devil’s Dozen of the Best ‘New Religion Journalism’ Books of the Decade
    • Books to Give this Holiday Season to Help Understand the World We’ve Found Ourselves in (and to Help Reimagine a Better One)
      Books to Give this Holiday Season to Help Understand the World We’ve Found Ourselves in (and to Help Reimagine a Better One)
    • Catholic Anti-Nuke Activists Looking at 20 Years in Prison a True Test for Religious Freedom
      Catholic Anti-Nuke Activists Looking at 20 Years in Prison a True Test for Religious Freedom
  • New Books
    • Reconsidering Reagan’s Racism: Trump is the Culmination of The Gipper’s GOP
      Reconsidering Reagan’s Racism: Trump is the Culmination of The Gipper’s GOP
    • QAnon Didn’t Just Spring Forth From the Void — It’s the Latest From a Familiar Movement
      QAnon Didn’t Just Spring Forth From the Void — It’s the Latest From a Familiar Movement
    • The ‘C’ Word: What We’re Missing When We Talk About ‘White Privilege’
      The ‘C’ Word: What We’re Missing When We Talk About ‘White Privilege’

Stephanie Coontz

Stephanie Coontz teaches History and Family Studies at The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington and serves as Director of Research and Public Education of the Council on Contemporary Families. Her books include Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage, American Families: A Multicultural Readers, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap, and The Way We Really Are: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap.

Politics/Law, Sexuality/GenderJanuary 14, 2010

“Traditional” Marriage or a Break with Tradition?

By Stephanie Coontz

Marriage as we know it is a recent invention.

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Religion Dispatches

Religion Dispatches

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