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Unfinished Work:
Building Democracy in an Era of Working Families
Jody Heymann and Chris Beem (Editors)
Book Overview
In the first section of Unfinished
Work, contributors look at how work, family, and civic lives have undergone
marked changes in the past century.
- Chapter 1 presents a century’s worth
of census data on changes in family and work lives.
- Chapters 2 and 3 detail the simultaneous
transformations in civil society.
- Chapter 4 provides a historical view on the
changing public debate about work, family, and civil society.
- Chapter 5 analyzes how and why European
societies responded to the revolutionary changes in work and family
lives, whereas the U.S.
did not.
The second section examines where
American society currently stands in addressing work-family issues and how
our failures to respond adequately to change are exacerbating inequalities.
- Chapter 6 details how different groups of
Americans currently spend their time working, caring for family members,
and contributing to their communities.
- Chapters 7 and 8 describe how low-income
families face significantly greater nonfinancial barriers to working while
providing adequate care for their children, elderly parents, and
disabled family members. In addition, chapter 8 examines the disparity
in the caregiving burdens of women and men, and in the working
conditions that affect their ability to meet these burdens.
The third section provides critical
analyses of the economic sphere, examining why we have not yet seen enough
effective change.
- Chapter 9 highlights challenges to changes
originating from corporations alone.
- Chapter 10 highlights challenges to changes
originating from unions alone.
- Chapters 11 and 12 raise provocative
questions about the extent to which a consumer culture exacerbated
problems.
The final section provides several
visions for public and private sector solutions.
- Chapter 13 details policies aimed at
decreasing inequalities in work and caregiving.
- Chapters 14 and 15 discuss how to eliminate
the heavy penalties currently paid by Americans who are both workers and
caregivers. One addresses these issues by focusing on private sector change,
while the other addresses them from a public policy point of view.
The chapters in this section are not
meant to be all encompassing but rather to open up the public debate in new
and valuable ways.
Contributors to this volume include:
David Almeida, Chris Beem, Eileen Boris, Henry Brady, Ellen Bravo, Lisa
Dodson, Laurel Elms, Nancy Folbre, Brad Googins, Janet Gornick, Donald
Hernandez, Sylvia Hewlett, Jody Heymann, Sheila Kamerman, Daniel A.
McDonald, Marcia Meyers, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Juliet Schor, Theda Skocpol,
and Robert Wuthnow.
Back to Work, Family, and
Democracy
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