At the Heart of Work and Family: Engaging the Ideas of Arlie Hochschild (Families in Focus)

At the Heart of Work and Family presents original research on work and family by scholars who engage and build on the conceptual framework developed by well-known sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. These concepts, such as "the second shift," "the economy of gratitude," "emotion work," "feeling rules," "gender strategies," and "the time bind," are basic to sociology and have shaped both popular discussions and academic study. The common thread in these essays covering the gender division of housework, childcare networks, families in the global economy, and children of consumers is the incorporation of emotion, feelings, and meaning into the study of working families. These examinations, like Hochschild's own work, connect micro-level interaction to larger social and economic forces and illustrate the continued relevance of linking economic relations to emotional ones for understanding contemporary work-family life.

Anita Ilta Garey is an associate professor of human development and family studies and of sociology at the University of Connecticut. Her book, Weaving Work and Motherhood, received the 2000 William J. Goode Book Award.

Karen V. Hansen is a professor of sociology and women's and gender studies at Brandeis University. Her books include Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care (Rutgers University Press), which received the William J. Goode Book Award, Honorable Mention.