Work and the Family

Work and the Family: A Study in Social Demography reports on the investigation of a variety of economic squeezes hypothesized to be characteristic of postwar American society. One is the lower white-collar squeeze where the attainment of white-collar lifestyle aspirations may be impeded by an income equivalent to that of many manual workers. The others are the two life-cycle squeezes: the squeeze of early adulthood when the desire to set up a household is hampered by the relatively low earnings of young men; and the squeeze of middle adulthood when the cost of children is peaking but increases in the earnings of husbands may be slowing down with regard to those squeezes.
The book is organized into four parts. Part I introduces the theoretical model to be used and the major objectives of the research. It also discusses important conceptual and methodological problems involved in life-cycle analysis and the use of occupation as a major analytical tool. Part II examines life-cycle squeezes-structured sources of economic stress arising out of the interaction of family and career cycles. Part III examines the nature of wives' socioeconomic contribution to the family. Part IV essentially sums up the theoretical implications of the analyses conducted in the preceding chapters and represents a more formal theoretical statement of the issues in terms of adaptive family strategies.
This study is aimed at the wide audience of demographers, sociologists, economists, and historians who are interested in family socio economic and demographic behavior. It is also intended to appeal to readers at all levels of methodological sophistication-whether professionals or graduate students.

Contenu

Preface

Acknowledgments

I An Overview

1 Analytical Goals and Conceptual Tools

I. Economic Squeezes

II. Career and Family-Cycle Stages

III. Relative Economic Status as a Conceptual Tool

IV. Extension of Model

V. Changing Sex-Role Attitudes

VI. Data Sources

VII. Conclusion

2 Conceptual and Methodological Issues

I. An Intermediate Classification of Occupations

II. Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Life-Cycle Analyses

II Life-Cycle Squeezes and Their Components

3 Career Cycle and Occupational Differentials in Men's Earnings

I. Age-Earnings Profiles of Men by Occupation: 1959 and 1969 Similarities

II. The Lower White-Collar Squeeze

III. 1959-1969 Changes in Age and Occupational Patterns of Earnings: A Description

IV. Explaining Changes in the Age Patterns of Earnings

V. Prospects for the 1980s

VI. Conclusion

4 The First Life-Cycle Squeeze

I. The Cost of Setting up a Household

II. Marriage and the First Squeeze

III. Conclusion

5 The Second Life-Cycle Squeeze

I. The Cost of Children

II. The Overall Picture

III. Occupational Differentials

IV. Conclusion

III The Nature of Wives Socioeconomic Contribution to the Family

6 The Effect of Socioeconomic Pressures and Deterrents on Wives Labor-Force Participation

I. The Role of Income and Occupation

II. Past Marital Instability as a Factor in Wives Labor-Force Participation

III. Family-Cycle Stage

IV. Conclusion

7 Wives Potential Socioeconomic Contribution and Their Labor-Force Status

I. The Sociology of Women's Economic Role in the Family

II. The Labor-Force Impact of the Potential Socioeconomic Advantage of Wives Working

III. Conclusion

8 Socioeconomic and Demographic Implications of Wives Employment

I. Educational Attainment

II. Economic Impact of Wives Working

III. Conclusion

IV Epilogue

9 Life-Cycle Squeezes and Adaptive Family Strategies

I. Conceptualization

II. Group I and II White-Collar Families

III. Group III and IV Blue-Collar Families

IV. Group III and IV White-Collar Families

V. Implications

Appendixes

Appendix A Occupations Classified by Peak 1959 Median Earnings within Major Occupation Groups

Appendix Total Male Population in Selected Age Groups

Appendix C Dollar Estimates of Expenditures on Children

Appendix D Multiple Regression Models of Wives' Labor-Force Status in 1970

Appendix Time Demands of Children

Appendix F Median Income of Husbands and Families by Age and Occupation

References

References to Government Documents

Subject Index