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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
Focusing primarily upon the argument in Stephanie Coontz's (1992) book by same title, the writer of this 5 page paper presents the argument that each generation has looked upon the one previous to it and commented on how pure and innocent things were back in the proverbial "good ol' days." In actuality, however, morality was never as high in the past as we are led to believe. We are "brainwashed" by family-orientated television programs to believe that during the 50's and 60's, people were more "innocent" when in reality, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, etc.;-- soared-- sometimes to levels much higher than today. This social phenomenon is explored in great detail. Bibliography also cites 2 additional sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Waywene.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
insightful text, the author is concerned with the fact that we are constantly looking back in time and pretending to remember some "good ol days" filled with wholesome values -that
never really existed at all. In a sense, Coontz seems to be arguing that the grass is always greener on the other side; we always want what was perceived to
have been "back then" without realizing that it never really was that way at all. Inherently, the alleged decline of "family values" represents the bulk of the
books argument. Coontz describes how the values so many people believe we had decades ago were the same values that people fifty years were regretting having lost. There seems to
exist an endless cycle in which people desperate want to remember a time in which things were good -- almost as if to rationalize todays world where all has been
lost. It is from such a starting point that we then begin to branch out and find scapegoats for all of societys ills. Indeed, it would appear
after reading Coontzs book that anxiety over values is a recurring theme in U.S. history (emphasis Price, 1994). Even as far back as a few hundred years ago, colonial
Americans were actually upset over their own perceived decline of morality. And if you read headlines in the 1950s about juvenile delinquency . . . youll see people of the
past were troubled over values too. There are those who find nostalgic value in recalling the fifties when fathers went out to earn money and mothers remained at home to
express their femininity through housework. We watch TV shows from the era such a "Leave It To Beaver"-- wrongly believing that such is a fair representation of how everyone in
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