Synopses & Reviews
Popular discussions of professional women often dwell on the conflicts faced by the woman who attempts to andldquo;have it all,andrdquo; raising children while climbing up the corporate ladder. Yet for all the articles and books written on this subject, there has been little work that focuses on the experience of African American professional women or asks how their perspectives on work-family balance might be unique.
and#160;
Raising the Race is the first scholarly book to examine how black, married career women juggle their relationships with their extended and nuclear families, the expectations of the black community, and their desires to raise healthy, independent children. Drawing from extensive interviews with twenty-three Atlanta-based professional women who left or modified careers as attorneys, physicians, executives, and administrators, anthropologist Richandeacute; J. Daniel Barnes found that their decisions were deeply rooted in an awareness of black womenandrsquo;s historical struggles. Departing from the possessive individualistic discourse of andldquo;having it all,andrdquo; the women profiled here think beyond their own situationandmdash;considering ways their decisions might help the entire black community.
and#160;
Giving a voice to women whose perspectives have been underrepresented in debates about work-family balance, Barnesandrsquo;s profiles enable us to perceive these women as fully fledged individuals, each with her own concerns and priorities. Yet Barnes is also able to locate many common themes from these black womenandrsquo;s experiences, and uses them to propose policy initiatives that would improve the work and family lives of all Americans.
Review
andquot;Raising the Race is a fascinating and original study of the lives of professional black women that contributes significantly to theorizing about womenandrsquo;s negotiation of family and career. Barnes expands sociological approaches to class mobility and feminist approaches to marriage, motherhood, and work by revealing how race profoundly affects the domestic strategies of these women despite their upward social mobility.andquot;
and#160;
and#160;
Review
andquot;Rich in narrative power and in theoretical complexity, this important book defines the terrain for a new generation in work-family studies that moves beyond the past focus on white women.andquot;
and#160;
Synopsis
In Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care, Karen V. Hansen investigates the lives of working parents and the informal networks they construct to help care for their children. She chronicles the conflicts, hardships, and triumphs of four families of various social classes. Each must navigate the ideology that mandates that parents, mothers in particular, rear their own children, in the face of an economic reality that requires that parents rely on the help of others. In vivid family stories, parents detail how they and their networks of friends, paid caregivers, and extended kin collectively close the andquot;care gapandquot; for their school-aged children.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2017 Race, Gender, and Class Section Book Award from the American Sociological Association
Popular discussions of professional women often dwell on the conflicts faced by the woman who attempts to "have it all," raising children while climbing up the corporate ladder. Yet for all the articles and books written on this subject, there has been little work that focuses on the experience of African American professional women or asks how their perspectives on work-family balance might be unique.
Raising the Race is the first scholarly book to examine how black, married career women juggle their relationships with their extended and nuclear families, the expectations of the black community, and their desires to raise healthy, independent children. Drawing from extensive interviews with twenty-three Atlanta-based professional women who left or modified careers as attorneys, physicians, executives, and administrators, anthropologist Riche J. Daniel Barnes found that their decisions were deeply rooted in an awareness of black women's historical struggles. Departing from the possessive individualistic discourse of "having it all," the women profiled here think beyond their own situation--considering ways their decisions might help the entire black community.
Giving a voice to women whose perspectives have been underrepresented in debates about work-family balance, Barnes's profiles enable us to perceive these women as fully fledged individuals, each with her own concerns and priorities. Yet Barnes is also able to locate many common themes from these black women's experiences, and uses them to propose policy initiatives that would improve the work and family lives of all Americans.
Synopsis
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 Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care, Karen V. Hansen investigates the lives of working parents and the informal networks they construct to help care for their children. She chronicles the conflicts, hardships, and triumphs of four families of various social classes. Each must navigate the ideology that mandates that parents, mothers in particular, rear their own children, in the face of an economic reality that requires that parents rely on the help of others. In vivid family stories, parents detail how they and their networks of friends, paid caregivers, and extended kin collectively close the andquot;care gapandquot; for their school-aged children.
Hansen not only debunks the myth that families in the United States are independent, isolated, and self-reliant units, she breaks new theoretical ground by asserting that informal networks of care can potentially provide unique and valuable bonds that nuclear families cannot.
Synopsis
Raising the Race is the first study to examine how black, married career women juggle their relationships with their extended and nuclear families, the expectations of the black community, and their desires to raise healthy, independent children. Including extensive interviews from women whose voices have been underrepresented in debates about work-family balance, Richandeacute; J. Daniel Barnes draws upon their diverse perspectives to propose policy initiatives that would improve the work and family lives of
all Americans.
About the Author
RICHandEacute; J. DANIEL BARNES is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology in the Africana Studies Department at Smith College. Her research has appeared in numerous scholarly journals and essay collections, including
The Changing Landscape of Work and Family in the American Middle Class and
The Gender, Culture, and Power Reader.