Preachers, pundits, and politicians blather endlessly about family values, traditional marriage, and child-rearing, but no one with real authority has asked the kids themselves what works best-until now. The brilliant social scientist Kathleen Gerson revolutionizes a stale debate with her breakthrough research on how adult children view their upbringing and what that means for their futures-and ours. Gerson provides definitive evidence that families with flexible gender strategies meet social and economic challenges far better than those with rigid gender roles, who are often unable to sustain secure homes when confronted by financial or marital crises. Leslie Bennetts, author of The Feminine Mistake

The vast changes in family life--the rise of single, same-sex, and two-paycheck parents--have often been blamed for declining morality and unhappy children. Drawing upon pioneering research with the children of the gender revolution, Kathleen Gerson reveals that it is not a lack of "family values," but rigid social and economic forces that make it difficult to live out those values. In the controversial public debate over modern American families, The Unfinished Revolution takes a measured approach, looking at the young adults who grew up in the tumultuous post-feminist period. Despite the entrance of women into the workforce and the blurring of once clearly defined gender boundaries, men and women live in a world where the demands of balancing parenting and work, autonomy and commitment, time and money are left largely unresolved. Gerson finds that while an overwhelming majority of young men and women see an egalitarian balance within committed relationships as the ideal, today's social and economic realities remain based on traditional-and now obsolete-distinctions between breadwinning and caretaking. In this equity vacuum, men and women develop conflicting strategies, with women stressing self-reliance and men seeking a new traditionalism. With compassion for all perspectives, Gerson argues that whether one decides to give in to traditionally imbalanced relationships or to avoid marriage completely, these approaches are second-best responses, not personal preferences or inherent attributes, and they will shift if new options can be created to help people achieve their egalitarian aspirations. The Unfinished Revolution makes clear recommendations for the kinds of workplace and community changes that would best bring about a more egalitarian family life--a new flexibility at work and at home that benefits families, encourages a thriving economy, and helps women and men integrate love and work.
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1. The Shaping of a New Generation ; Part One: Growing Up in Changing Families ; 2. Families beyond the Stereotypes ; 3. The Rising Fortunes of Flexible Families ; 4. Domestic Deadlocks and Declining Fortunes ; Part Two: Facing the Future ; 5. High Hope, Lurking Fears ; 6. Women's Search for Self-Reliance ; 7. Men's Resistance to Equal Sharing ; 8. Reaching across the Gender Divide ; 9. Finishing the Gender Revolution ; Appendix 1: List of Respondents and Sample Demographics ; Appendix 2: Studying Social and Individual Change ; Notes ; References ; Index
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199783328
Publisert
2011
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
404 gr
Høyde
155 mm
Bredde
235 mm
Dybde
21 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
320

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Kathleen Gerson is Professor of Sociology at New York University. A recognized authority on work, gender, and family life, she frequently contributes to media such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer, National Public Radio, CBS Sunday Morning, NBC Today Show, ABC Good Morning America, and CNN. Her most recent books include No Man's Land: Men's Changing Commitments to Family and Work and The Time Divide: Work, Family, and Gender Inequality (with Jerry A. Jacobs).