In the latest issue of Contemporary Sociology, Kevin T. Leicht reviews our book, Old Assumptions, New Realities: Ensuring Economic Security for Working Families in the 21st Century:
The recent global recession has provided a ripe opportunity for social scientists and policy analysts to take stock of what happened, who was most damaged, who needs the most help right now, and what can be done to prevent further long-term economic damage to American working families. This edited volume by Robert Plotnick, Marcia Meyers, Jennifer Romich, and Steven Smith provides a strong analysis and roadmap for moving ahead that highlights many of the long-term vulnerabilities faced by the “99 percenters” (as the Occupy Wall Street Movement calls them) and (more directly) the “60 percenters,” those hovering around the median of the family income distribution (currently around $62,000), and those below them.[...] This book is a must-read for sociologists interested in the evolution of new social policies and interested publics who are concerned that too many Americans are facing economic and social catastrophe.
The Care Work in the United States working group examines the social and economic implications of how care (child care, elder care, care for the disabled) is provided to dependent populations in the U.S. today. As women have moved into the formal labor force in large numbers over the last forty years, care work—traditionally provided primarily by women—has also shifted increasingly from the family arena into the formal economy. The working group will tackle the difficult policy problems that arise from the fact that market care is not a perfect substitute for family care.