Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care

by Karen V. Hansen

Book Overview

In recent years U.S. public policy has focused on strengthening the nuclear family as a primary strategy for improving the lives of America's youth. It is often assumed that this normative type of family is an independent, self-sufficient unit adequate for raising children. But half of all households in the United States with young children have two employed parents. How do working parents provide care and mobilize the help that they need?

In...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813535018
• ISBN13: 9780813535012
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Hansen Reveals New Dimensions of American Family Life

In Not-so-nuclear Families Karen Hansen reveals the truth behind many of our country's self-proclaimed "self-sufficient" families. Hansen's research focuses on several families and how they care for their children, and make family life work. The end result is a book that demonstrates that American families rely on networks of care to perform the basic daily functions of family life. This is important for anyone examining society and the structures and institutions that exist within it. In American society we take pride in our emphasis on individualism; Hansen's book reveals that we are not who we are, or in the position we are in, without the assistance of others within our networks of care. This book is a must read for anyone interested in society, gender, class and the institution of the family in modern America.