1st Edition

Starting in Our Own Backyards How Working Families Can Build Community and Survive the New Economy

By Ann Bookman Copyright 2004
    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    318 Pages
    by Routledge

    Containing interviews with more than 100 middle-class working parents in the Boston area, Bookman vividly illustrates the inherent conflicts faced by today's two-working-parent families and the often unfortunate consequences for the community. In an important departure from the ongoing debate, she offers a new paradigm for the relationship between paid and unpaid work that could invigorate both family life and the quality of civil society.

    Acknowledgements Introduction: The Engine That Could Part I. Work, Family and Community in the New Economy Chapter 1: New Terrain for Work and Family: Making the Community Connection Chapter 2: How Friendly Is the Family-Friendly Workplace?: A Look at the Biotech Industry Chapter 3: All In the Family: It's not a Private Affair Part II. From Family Connections to Community Involvement Chapter 4: Community As A Starting Point: Place and Participation Chapter 5: More Than Roads and Bridges Chapter 6: Childcare and Other Building Blocks of Civil Society Chapter 7: The PTA Is Not The Problem Chapter 8: Not By Bread Alone Part III. Investing in Community: Everybody's Business Chapter 9: The Trials of a Full-time Working Mom: Or How I Became a Part-time Worker and a Part-time Community Activist Chapter 10: From Backyards to Corporate Boardrooms and Beyond: All Stakeholders Welcome Chapter 11: The Call of Community: Vocation and Avocation Appendix One: Methodology Appendix Two: The Family Friendly Community Index Index

    Biography

    Ann Bookman is Executive Director of the MIT Workplace Center. She is a social anthropologist and author of a number of publications on women's work, work and family issues, unionization, and family policy. Bookman has held a variety of teaching and research positions and has also worked in government. As a presidential appointee during the first term of the Clinton administration, she served as Policy and Research Director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, and as Executive Director of the bipartisan Commission on Family and Medical Leave. She is co-editor of Women and the Politics of Empowerment.

    "The clarity and realism of this book makes it an excellent addition to the work-family literature."

    -- Anthropology of Work Review, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3