12:20-1:10 MW M 015
Men's and women's responsibilities used to be clear: men took care of
work, women took care of the family.  Rapid social changes in the
U.S. have consigned this "traditional family" to the dustbin of
history, but new, workable models have not emerged for both women and
men to combine work and family responsibilities.  At present many
adults experience conflicts between work and families, and in many
families there are conflicts, sometimes intense ones, between the
division of work and family responsibilities.

This course has three goals.  The first is to explore how the
organization of family life in our society in general (who takes care
of the kids?; how available and affordable is childcare?; what social
services are available to support families?) is affected by and in
turn affects the organization of the workplace (how unequal are
women's and men's incomes?; is part-time work available?; what family
benefits do employers provide?).  In brief, we will examine the
social-structural context in which the divisions and conflicts in
individual people's lives are played out.  The second goal is to
connect this social-structural context with the work and family
experiences of individual women and men. How do people think about
the choices in their own lives?  How do women's choices affect men's,
and vice-versa?  The final goal is to describe and analyze a variety
of public and private attempts to modify the work-family linkage,
primarily ones that are intended to make it easier to work and care
for a family.