Work-Family Challenges for Low-Income Parents and Their Children

作者:Crouter, Ann C. (EDT)/ Booth, Alan (EDT)

页数:304

出版时间:2003-12

价格:$ 124.30

isbn号码:9780805846003

具体描述

The area of work and family is a hot topic in the social sciences and appeals to scholars in a wide range of disciplines. There are few edited volumes in this area, however, and this may be the only one that focuses on low-income families--a particularly important group in this era of welfare-to-work policy. Interdisciplinary in nature, the volume brings together contributors from the fields of psychology, social work, sociology, demography, economics, human development and family studies, and public policy. It presents important work-family topics from the point of view of low-income families at a time in history when welfare to work programs have become standard. Divided into four parts, each section addresses a different aspect of the topic, consisting of a big picture lead essay which is followed by three papers that critique, extend, and supplement the final paper. Many of the chapters address important social policy issues, giving the volume an applied focus which will make it of interest to many groups. Serving to organize the volume, these issues and others have been encapsulated into four sets of anchor questions: *How has the availability, content, and stability of the jobs available for the working poor changed in recent decades? How do work circumstances for low-income families vary as a function of gender, family structure, race, ethnicity, and geography? What implications do these changes have for the widening inequality between the haves and have-nots? *What features of work timing matter for families? What do we know about the impacts of shift work, long hours, seasonal work, and temporary work on employees, their family relationships, and their children's development? *How are the child care needs of low-income families being met? What challenges do these families face with regard to child care, and how can child-care services be strengthened to support parents and to enhance child development? *How are the challenges of managing work and family experienced by low-income men and women? The primary audience for the book is academicians and their students, policy specialists, and people charged with developing and evaluating family-focused programs. The volume will be appropriate for classroom use in upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate courses in the fields of family sociology, demography, human development and family studies, women's studies, labor studies, and social work.

用户评价

这本书带来的影响是潜移默化的，它改变了我看待日常新闻的方式。以前，当我看到关于“劳动力市场灵活性”的讨论时，我可能只会从宏观经济角度进行思考。但现在，我会在脑海中自动浮现出书中描绘的那些场景：一个母亲如何在三个兼职工作之间切换，只为凑够下个月的房租，而她的孩子则在深夜的便利店外等待她下班。作者成功地建立了一种强大的移情机制，让读者不再能轻易地将这些家庭视为“统计学上的弱势群体”。这本书的叙事张力在于其真实性，它没有提供廉价的希望，却提供了深刻的理解。阅读过程是一种持续的自我反思，它迫使我们思考：我们的社会结构在多大程度上是为那些拥有稳定资源和支持系统的人群设计的，而那些处于边缘的人，他们付出的隐性成本又是多少？这是一部值得所有关注社会公正议题的人士细读的力作。

这本书对现有社会保障体系的批判是尖锐而有力的。它并没有满足于指出“福利不足”这一老生常谈的论点，而是深入剖析了现有政策设计中隐含的对低收入家庭工作模式的“不理解”和“不包容”。例如，作者详细阐述了如何因为错过一个签到时间，或者因为临时需要请假照顾生病的孩子，导致一个家庭可能面临的连锁反应——从失去当天的收入到被标记为“不可靠的员工”，进而影响到未来的雇佣机会。这种对“微观经济惩罚”的细致描摹，令人不寒而栗。它挑战了许多人对于“个人努力就能成功”的简单化认知，清晰地表明，在某些结构下，起点上的微小劣势会被不断放大，形成一个难以打破的负面循环。对于任何一个致力于社会公平的决策者来说，这本书都应该被列为案头必备的阅读材料。

这本关于低收入家庭父母及其子女所面临的工作与家庭挑战的书，实在是触动人心。我原以为这只是又一本堆砌着统计数据和理论框架的学术著作，但翻开第一页，我就被作者细腻的笔触和深切的同理心所吸引。它没有高高在上地评判，而是像一个老朋友在你耳边低语，娓娓道来那些我们平日里轻易忽略的角落。书中描绘的那些生活片段，那些在微薄薪水和托儿所困境之间挣扎的画面，清晰得仿佛就在眼前。我尤其欣赏作者在探讨结构性障碍时所展现出的那种冷静又充满力量的叙事方式，没有煽情的口号，只有对现实无奈却又坚韧的深刻洞察。这本书的价值，在于它迫使我们停下来，真正去思考，在资源匮乏的环境下，“平衡”这个词究竟意味着怎样的沉重代价。它不仅仅是对社会问题的揭示，更像是一份对无数默默承受的家庭的深情致敬。读完后，我感觉自己对“贫困”的理解不再是抽象的概念，而是与具体的、有血有肉的人们紧密相连的情感体验。

这本书的行文风格非常独特，它成功地避免了社会科学著作常见的枯燥说教。作者似乎深谙如何运用文学化的语言来包装严肃的议题。我特别喜欢那些穿插在章节之间的引语和家庭成员的直接陈述，它们像一束束探照灯，瞬间照亮了那些被数据掩盖的个体经验。与其说这是一部研究报告，不如说它是一本精彩的社会纪实文学。它让我意识到，当我们谈论“工作效率”和“经济产出”时，背后往往隐藏着父母为了不错过孩子某次重要的成长瞬间而进行的选择与牺牲。这种“取舍的艺术”在低收入群体中体现得尤为残酷。从排版和章节设计的角度来看，这本书也做得非常出色，清晰的脉络引导着读者层层深入，即便对相关领域知识储备不多的普通读者，也能轻松跟上作者的思路，并对其中提出的挑战产生强烈的共鸣。

读罢此书，我最大的感受是其资料搜集的广度和深度令人叹为观止。作者似乎将自己化身为无数个角色，深入到各个行业、各种工作模式的基层，去亲身体验那种“两难”的煎熬。无论是弹性工作时间在实际操作中的名存实亡，还是那些不得不依靠年迈亲属进行义务照料的无奈选择，书中都提供了令人信服的案例和详实的背景分析。更值得称赞的是，它没有将重点仅仅停留在“问题”的罗列上，而是非常巧妙地穿插了一些“适应性策略”的讨论。这些策略并非灵丹妙药，但它们展现了人在绝境中迸发出的惊人创造力与韧性。比如，书中对于非正式支持网络构建的分析，就为政策制定者提供了一个非常务实且更具人情味的操作空间。总的来说，这本书的学术严谨性与人文关怀达到了一个极高的平衡点，读起来虽然沉重，但绝对是值得反复咀嚼的社会学精品。