Work/Care Regimes: Institutions,Culture and Behaviour and the Australian Case

Increasingly around the industrialized world, labour markets rely upon the paid work of women, many of whom have dependents. Such changing patterns of paid work by women — and by men — are located within work/care regimes that are more or less hostile to the needs of paid workers who care for others. This article sets out a model of work/care regimes and locates the Australian case within international and historical contexts. In Australia, the unchanging normative male worker archetype dominates institutions of work and care, while the cultures of motherhood and fatherhood remain stoically resistant to renovation. In the meantime, the behaviour of working women runs ahead of these unchanging cultures and institutions, creating a policy interest in ‘reconciling’ work and care, but a failure to provide it. The reasons for this failure are outlined.     

Who Gets What From Government? Distributional Consequences of Child‐Care Assistance Policies

Given the fragmented structure of child‐care assistance in the United States, it has been difficult to obtain accurate estimates of which families are assisted, through which mechanisms, and at what level. Making use of survey data from New York City, we analyze the distribution of several forms of public child‐care assistance. Results suggest that about 40% of all families with young children receive some form of child‐care assistance. Considering all forms of assistance, the distribution of child‐care help is targeted in both expected and some unexpected ways. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of U.S. child‐care policies governing access and benefit levels.     

Parent‐Adolescent Involvement: The Relative Influence of Parent Gender and Residence

The 1995 wave of the Add Health study is used to investigate the relative influence of parent gender and residence on patterns of parental involvement with adolescents. Adolescent reports (N =17,330) of shared activities, shared communication, and relationship quality with both biological parents are utilized. A multidimensional scaling analysis reveals that parent gender explains most of the variance in parent‐adolescent involvement, with residential status playing a secondary yet a fundamental role in accounting for these patterns. Resident mothers who do not live with adolescents’ biological fathers engage in the broadest range of activities with their children. Unpartnered resident fathers display patterns of parenting that are as similar to mothers as they are to other fathers.     

The Division of Household Labor in Germany and Israel

We compare the patterns of household division of labor in Germany and Israel—two countries that share key elements of the corporatist welfare regime but differ in their gender regimes—and evaluate several hypotheses using data from the 2002 International Social Survey Program. Although time constraints and relative resources affect the division of household labor and women’s housework in both societies, we find that in Germany the gender order of household labor is more rigid, whereas in Israel the spouses’ linked labor market status exerts distinctive effects. We also find significant relationships between gender ideology and the division of household labor. We discuss the theoretical advantages of approaching the comparative study of gender inequality from the vantage point of family and gender regimes.     

African American family life in societal context: Crisis and hope

Since 1965 hundreds of articles and books have been published about African American families. Nevertheless, our understanding of these families continues to be limited. There is a tendency to gloss over important within-group differences; thus, monolithic, stereotypic and inaccurance portrayals of Black family life are common. This paper sets aside debates of Black family pathology or viability, focusing instead on these families' essential character. The paper seeks to understand Black families on their own terms, locating them in relevant social, historical, political and cultural contexts. Key empirical patterns and trends reveal dramatic changes in Black family geographic location, headship, quality of life and socioeconomic status since 1950.A complex picture is revealed. There has been gradual but steady overall improvement alongside persistent, extreme racial disparties and pronounced class disparities among Black families. The proposed Black Family Socio-Ecological Context model specifies and connects institutional, interpersonal, environmental, temporal and cultural facts that shape the essential character of Black family life in such a way as to produce characteristics simultaneously shared and idiosyncratic. The model also provides an organized, systematic accounting of research and public policy issues relevant to the study of African American families.An early version co-authored with Richard A. English was presented during the National Council on Family Relations Meetings in Portland, Oregon, October 1980.     

我国城市家庭养老与社区养老服务

养老是解决中国老龄问题的基础和核心问题。在我国城市,家庭养老仍然是目前主要的养老形式。但在今天,家庭养老面临挑战,家庭养老功能减弱,急需发挥社会养老的功能,其中,社区养老服务是社会养老的重要载体。加强社区在老年人的经济支持、生活照顾和精神慰藉方面的养老功能,既可保持家庭养老的传统和优点,又能弥补家庭养老不足。     

从《摩奴法典》婚烟家庭法看古印度的法文化

《摩奴法典》是古印度后吠陀时期权威性的法典①,它是古印度社会历史沉淀的产物。从《摩奴法典》的婚姻家庭法中折射出的古印度法文化代表着这一时期法文化的共同特征。以法典的婚姻家庭法为视角,对这一时期古印度的法文化的特点以及各特点的形成原因、表现和社会影响作一分析,便于我们更深刻的了解古印度法系和法文化     

传统婚姻家庭观的反叛与重塑——试析当代大学生婚姻家庭观念的嬗变

改革开放后的中国正处于社会转型期,物质和精神领域都在发生着巨大的变化。当代大学生是在社会转型时期成长起来的一代,透过他们的婚姻家庭现可以折射出这个时代的特征,某种程度上也可以反映出未来相当长的一段时期内中国知识分子阶层中婚姻家庭的状况和趋势。     

对我国城市女性遭遇家庭暴力问题的再思考

从社会普遍关注的城市女性遭遇家庭暴力这个视角出发,分析和归纳了城市女性家庭暴力的含义、特征、危害,揭示了城市女性家庭暴力问题产生的主要原因,提出了预防和制止城市女性家庭暴力的对策和建议。