Chapter 12

Marriage, Work,and Economics

Chapter Outline

Workplace/family Linkages The Familial Division of Labor:

Women in the Labor Force Dual-earner Marriages Atypical Dual-earners: Shift

Couples and Peer Marriages

Chapter Outline

Employment and the Family Life Cycle

Family Issues in the Workplace Living Without Work:

Unemployment and Families Poverty Workplace and Family Policy

Families and Work

Families may be examined as economic units bound by emotional ties.

Families are involved in two types of work: – paid work at the workplace – family work- unpaid work in the

household

Employment and Family Life Work spillover is the effect employment

has on the time, energy, and psychological functioning of workers and their families at home.

Role strain refers to difficulties individuals have in carrying out multiple responsibilities attached to a role.

Role overload occurs when the activities for one or more roles are greater than an individual can handle.

Sociologist Ann Oakley: The Homemaker Role

Four primary aspects:– Exclusive allocation to women, rather than

to adults of both sexes.– Association with economic dependence.– Status as nonwork, which is distinct from

“real,” economically productive paid employment.

– Primacy to women—that is, having priority over other women’s roles.

Characteristics Of Housework It isolates the person at home. It is unstructured, monotonous, and

repetitive. It is often a restricted, full-time role. It is autonomous. It is “never done”. It may involve child rearing. It often involves role strain. It is unpaid.

Women’s Decision to Enter the Labor Force

1. Financial factors: To what extent is income significant?

For unmarried women and single mothers, employment may be their only source of income.

2. Social norms How accepting is the social

environment for married women and mothers?

Women’s Decision to Enter the Labor Force

3. Self-fulfillment Does a job meet needs for

autonomy, personal growth, and recognition?

4. Attitudes about employment and family

Does the woman believe she can meet the demands of her family responsibilities and her job?

Findings From a Study of Two Parent Families

Mothers spend from 3 to 5 hours of active involvement for every hour fathers spend.

Mothers’ involvement is oriented toward practical daily activities, such as feeding, bathing, and dressing.

Fathers’ time is generally spent in play.

Findings From a Study of Two Parent Families

Mothers are almost entirely responsible for child care: planning, organizing, scheduling, supervising, and delegating.

Women are the primary caretakers; men are the secondary.

Contemporary Arrangements

1. Shift households - where spouses work opposite shifts and alternate domestic and caregiver responsibilities.

2. Households in which men stay home with children while women support the family financially.

Three Basic Work/family Life Cycle Models

1. Traditional- simultaneous work/family life cycle

2. Sequential work/family role staging

3. Symmetrical work/family role allocation

Traditional-simultaneous Work/family Life Cycle Model

Stages1. Establishment/novitiate2. New parents/early career3. School-age family/middle career4. Post parental family/ late career5. Aging family/post exit

Economic Distress

Aspects of a family’s economic life that may cause stress: unemployment, poverty, and economic strain.

Unemployment causes family roles to change.

Unemployment most often affects female-headed single-parent families, African-American and Latino families, and young families.

Children Under 18, Below Poverty Level, 1994

Coping Resources: Families in Economic Distress

Individual family members’ positive psychological characteristics

Adaptive family system Flexible family roles

Recipients of AFDCand TANF 1975–2002

Total recipients (thousands)

% of U.S. pop.

Families receiving

assistance

1975 11,165 5.2 3,498

1980 10,597 4.7 3,642

1985 10,812 4.5 3,692

1990 11,460 4.6 3,974

Recipients of AFDCand TANF 1975–2002

Total recipients (thousands)

% of U.S. pop.

Families receiving

assistance

1995 13,652 5.2 4,876

2000 (TANF)

5,778 2.5 2,215

2002 5,066 NA 2,047

Poverty

Almost 14% of the population of the United States lives in poverty.

Poverty generally occurs due to:– Divorce – Birth of a child to an unmarried mother– Unemployment– Illness, disability, or death of the head of the

household