The Work and Family Handbook: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Methods, and Approaches ‐ Edited by Marcie Pitt‐Catsouphes, Ellen Ernst Kossek, & Stephen Sweet

Abstract

The Work and Family Handbook: Multidisciplinary Methods, and Approaches. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ellen Ernst Kossek, & Stephen Sweet (Eds.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 2006. 788 pp. ISBN 0-8058-5026-0. $85.00. (paper) Over the past several decades, scholarship related to families and work has grown at a rapid rate. This historical development is documented in the opening pages of this volume and is a primary rationale for the book. In Chapter 1, the editors argue for further recognition and institutionalization of the field of work-family studies, emphasizing that this book is not simply another anthology or edited volume, but a handbook of scholarship. In this handbook, the editors provide a broad overview of the current state of knowledge in work-family studies. The coverage is certainly extensive, with 34 chapters written by 63 leading scholars in sociology, psychology, human development, business/ management, anthropology, women's studies, and law. Other authors have training in history, economics, social work, labor studies, and demography; some work in the nonprofit sector. Thus, the multidisciplinarity of this handbook meets another of the editors' goals by .... positioning] the disciplinary mosaic that has contributed to the richness and rigor of the work-family area of (p. 8). The book is organized into four sections; each one addresses specific questions related to work-family studies. An introduction to each section summarizes the chapters in that section and also provides some central insights into how this group of readings interrelates. The first section, Families and Jobs in the 21st Century, contains three selections that furnish an introduction to this field of study. After the editors' introductory chapter mentioned above, the second and third chapters address the workfamily area of study from either the perspective of work (Chapter 2 by Amy S. Wharton) or the perspective of family (Chapter 3 by Stephen R. Marks). As a set, these three chapters give the reader an excellent overview of the dynamic relationships between families and work in the United States. More specifically, Wharton's chapter is divided into two historical time periods from which she analyzes the legacies of industrialization and our postindustrial economy on work and families. Wharton is careful to show how much gender, at both the micro and the macro levels, influences our understandings of both families and work. Similarly, Stephen Marks, in Chapter 3, discusses family diversity and the social processes that have led to American households becoming more diverse in the last 40 years. Marks brings attention to how social class differences in the United States influence family diversity. The second section of the book, Disciplinary Approaches and Theoretical Perspectives, addresses the questions: What conceptual frameworks do different disciplines use to examine work-family experiences and how do these frameworks shape the types of questions scholars ask about work-family connections? In their introduction to this section, Pitt-Catsouphes et al. argue that researchers can use many lenses to examine work and family life and argue for a multidisciplinary approach to comprehend this complex nexus of relationships. Each of the 13 selections highlights distinct theoretical and conceptual perspectives, so readers get a sense of how different disciplines have contributed to the field of work-family studies. For example, Stephen Sweet and Phyllis Moen give an overview of the life course perspective on work and family. Mary Still and Joan Williams provide a legal perspective on family issues at work. And Naomi Gerstel and Natalia Sarkisian use a sociological lens to demonstrate how race, social class, and gender influence families and work. Other scholars in this section analyze work and family from the perspectives of demography, history, social work, economics, experimental social psychology, organizational psychology, human development, anthropology, and role theory. …