Working Families

The dynamics of work and parenthood are in the midst of a revolutionary shift in the United States. Focused around a major factor in this shift—the rise of dual-income families—this groundbreaking volume provides a highly informative snapshot of the intricate fabric of work and family in the United States. With selections written by leading scholars both inside and outside academia, Working Families offers intimate stories of how families manage and how children respond to the rigors of their parents' lives, as well as broad overviews developed from survey and census data. Taken together, these essays present an updated and integral view of the revolutionary changes in patterns of work and family life occurring today.

Using a broad range of methodologies, the contributors reach across gender, age, and class differences. They discuss working-class as well as affluent dual-career couples and work sites ranging from factories to offices. Straddling racial divides, the essays range from studies of white day care providers to a close look at a Mexican maid's daughter. The collection as a whole refutes the assumption that there is one normal type of family or workplace. These readable essays capture our attention as they build, cumulatively, to an absorbing picture of today's families and workplaces.

Rosanna Hertz is Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Wellesley College and author of More Equal Than Others (California, 1990). Nancy L. Marshall is Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women.

Preface
Introduction by Rosanna Hertz and Nancy L. Marshall

PART ONE: Changing Families
1. The Rise of the Dual-Worker Family, 1963-1997, by Linda J. Waite and Mark Nielsen
2. Gendered Careers: A Life Course Perspective, by Phyllis Moen and Shin-Kap Han3. Getting Younger While Getting Older: Family-Building at Midlife, by Lillian B. Rubin
4. Men's Family Work: Child-Centered Fathering and the Sharing of Domestic Labor, by Scott Coltrane and Michele Adams

PART TWO: Changing Workplaces
5. Family-Responsive Benefits and the Two-Tiered Labor Market, by Cynthia H. Deitch and Matt L. Huffman
6. How Are Small Businesses Responding to Work and Family Issues? by Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes and Leon Litchfield
7. Part-Time Work Arrangements and the Corporation: A Dynamic Interaction, by Marcia Brumit Kropf
8. Toward a New View of Work and Family Life, by Ellen Galinsky
9. Work, Family, and Globalization: Broadening the Scope of Policy Analysis, by Harriet E. Gross

PART THREE: Heartstrings and Pursestrings: Gendered Views from Within
10. Changing the Structure and Culture of Work: Work-Family Conflict, Work Flexibility, and Gender Equity in the Modern Workplace, by Kathleen Gerson and Jerry A. Jacobs
11. Workplace Policies and the Psychological Well-Being of First-Time Parents: The Case of Working-Class Families, by Heather-Lyn Haley, Maureen Perry-Jenkins, and Amy Armenia
12. Work, Family, and Gender in Medicine: How Do Dual-Earners Decide Who Should Work Less? by Lena M. Lundgren, Jennifer Fleischer-Cooperman, Robert Schneider, and Therese Fitzgerald
13. From Babysitters to Child Care Providers: The Development of a Feminist Consciousness in Family Day Care Workers, by Heather M. Fitz Gibbon

PART FOUR: Children’s Experiences
14. Children, Work, and Family: Some Thoughts on “Mother Blame”, by Anita Ilta Garey and Terry Arendell
15. The Kinderdult: The New Child Born to Conflict between Work and Family, by Diane Ehrensaft
16. Passing between the Worlds of Maid and Mistress: The Life Story of a Mexican Maid’s Daughter, by Mary Romero
17. Eavesdropping Children, Adult Deals, and Cultures of Care, by Arlie Russell Hochschild
18. Pick-Up Time at Oakdale Elementary School: Work and Family from the Vantage Points of Children, by Barrie Thorne

Contributors
Index