VANNOY, Dana and Paula J. DUBECK, eds., CHALLENGES FOR WORK AND FAMILY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Abstract

VANNOY, Dana and Paula J. DUBECK, eds., CHALLENGES FOR WORK AND FAMILY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Hawthorne, New York: Aldine DeGruyter, 1998,234 pp., $21.95 softcover / $43.95 hardcover. This collection of thirteen original papers (plus an introduction and insightful conclusion by editors) is result of a 1996 conference on working organized by The Kunz Center for Study of Work and Family. The volume strives to specify explicit interdependence between work and family and focuses on effect of economic changes on family life, necessity of recognizing diversity among families, and role of workplace culture in negotiation of work/family issues. concluding chapter, Dana Vannoy summarizes two important labor force trends addressed in book: the inclusion of women in work force and predominance of dual-earner families and the shift from predominance of industrial to predominance of information sector (218). Much of this volume focuses on consequences of latter shift. Michael Wallace offers an excellent discussion of downsizing, its causes and consequences. Harriet B. Presser investigates increase in non-standard working hours (night shifts and Saturdays/Sundays) and its potential impact on working families. Several other chapters explore declines in employer-based health insurance, illiteracy among school-aged children and its impact on employment in service sector, consequences of welfare-to-work reforms, and effect of downsizing on community identity. Two chapters deal theoretically and empirically with issue of family diversity. Maxine Baca Zinn addresses family values debates and challenges liberal critique to more fully incorporate an analysis of race as a macrostructural force that produces (and, indeed, requires) different family arrangements. a comparison of hours worked,job prestige, and other forms of family support in dominant and minority dual-earner families, Marilyn Fernandez and Kwang Chung Kim demonstrate necessity of replacing a Black/White treatment of race with a multiracial/multi-ethnic perspective. The book also highlights significance of workplace culture. an excellent overview chapter Kathleen Gerson argues, In absence of gender equity, family-friendly workplaces will simply recreate old forms of inequality in a new way (18). A number of these essays imply that structural opportunities and organizational cultures in female-dominated occupations may hinder women's career advancement. most organizations, women are still assumed to be primary care givers. …