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The Time Divide

The Time Divide

Work, Family, and Gender Inequality

Jerry A. Jacobs, Kathleen Gerson

ISBN 9780674018396

Publication date: 11/30/2005

In a panoramic study that draws on diverse sources, Jerry A. Jacobs and Kathleen Gerson explain why and how time pressures have emerged and what we can do to alleviate them. In contrast to the conventional wisdom that all Americans are overworked, they show that time itself has become a form of social inequality that is dividing Americans in new ways—between the overworked and the underemployed, women and men, parents and non-parents. They piece together a compelling story of the increasing mismatch between our economic system and the needs of American families, sorting out important trends such as the rise of demanding jobs and the emergence of new pressures on dual earner families and single parents.
Comparing American workers with their European peers, Jacobs and Gerson also find that policies that are simultaneously family-friendly and gender equitable are not fully realized in any of the countries they examine. As a consequence, they argue that the United States needs to forge a new set of solutions that offer American workers new ways to integrate work and family life.

Praise

  • Jacobs and Gerson present the most fine-grained analysis yet offered of working time and its impacts on families. They successfully combine sophisticated analyses of quantitative data with breakthroughs in the conceptualization of work time. Their focus on household work time and their incorporation of subjective aspects of work–family conflict are welcome additions to the study of work time. As a result of their nuanced treatment, they avoid making simplistic generalizations that have marked many previous treatments of this topic.

    —Rosalind Chait Barnett, Brandeis University, co-author of Same Difference: How Myths About Gender Differences Are Hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs

Authors

  • Jerry Jacobs is Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania.
  • Kathleen Gerson is Professor of Sociology, New York University.

Book Details

  • 272 pages
  • 0-5/8 x 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches
  • Harvard University Press

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