Working Hard and Making Do: Surviving in Small Town America

Nelson/Smith

Published by University of California Press 1999

Working Hard and Making Do

Surviving in Small Town America

Nelson/Smith
Edited by: Margaret K. Nelson and Joan Smith

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520921696

Overview
Contents

About this book

The economic recovery of the 1990s brought with it a surge of new jobs, but the prospects for most working Americans improved little. Family income rose only slightly and the period witnessed a significant degradation of the quality of work as well as in what people could expect from their waged employment. In this book, Margaret K. Nelson and Joan Smith take a look inside the households of working-class Americans to consider how they are coping with large-scale structural changes in the economy, specifically how the downgrading of jobs has affected survival strategies, gender dynamics, and political attitudes.

Drawing on both randomly distributed telephone surveys and in-depth interviews, Nelson and Smith explore the differences in the survival strategies of two groups of working-class households in a rural county: those in which at least one family member has been able to hold on to good work (a year-round, full-time job that carries benefits) and those in which nobody has been able to secure or retain steady employment. They find that households with good jobs are able to effectively use all of their labor power—they rely on two workers; they engage in on-the-side businesses; and they barter with friends and neighbors. In contrast, those living in families without at least one good job find themselves considerably less capable of deploying a complex, multi-faceted survival strategy. The authors further demonstrate that this difference between the two sets of households is accompanied by differences in the gender division of labor within the household and the manner in which individuals make sense of, and respond to, their employment.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Constructing a New Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. Families Struggling in the New Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
3. Earning a Living Means More than a Job Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
4. Making It at Home Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
5. Gendering Strategies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
6. Dividing the Labor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
7. Work Matters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Appendix: Methodology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of California Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 289
Illustrations
- Other: 10 charts, 12 tables
Keywords: Labor & Industrial Relations; Political Science

eBook

Published: August 31, 1999
ISBN: 9780520921696

Paperback

Planned Publication: August 31, 1999
ISBN: 9780520215757