The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports from the Field

Descartes, Lara/ Rudd, Elizabeth

ISBN 10: 0739117408 / ISBN 13: 9780739117408

Published by Lexington Books, 2008

About this Item

330 pages. 8.70x5.75x1.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-0739117408

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class: Reports from the Field
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0739117408
• ISBN 13: 9780739117408
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.51 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

This collection explores the dynamics of the modern, middle-class American family and its near-constant state of transition. The editors introduce the book by situating it within the context of work, family, and ethnographic research on middle-class families in the United States. Emerging and established scholars contributed chapters based on their original field research, following each chapter with a personal reflection on doing field work. The volume concludes with an original essay by Kathryn Dudley, an anthropologist who has spent decades studying the intersections of work, family, and class in American culture. As a whole, the volume highlights how culture shapes family life amid shifting social and economic landscapes. The authors, working in the fields of anthropology and sociology, observed daily life at workplaces and in homes, interviewing people about their work, their children, and their ideas about what makes a good family. They report on their fieldwork in essays rich with the detail of everyday life, revealing the fascinating diversity of American middle-class families through chapters about gay co-father families, African American stay-at-home mothers, first-time fathers, rural refugees from corporate America, well-off white mothers, Taiwanese immigrant churches, the fetal ultrasound, and more. The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class is an excellent text for classes in anthropology, sociology, American culture, family studies, work and family, and gender studies.

About the Author

Lara Descartes is assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut. Elizabeth Rudd is a research affiliate of the Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life and research scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle.