Unequal Family Lives
Causes and Consequences in Europe and the Americas

This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

Naomi R. Cahn (Edited by), June Carbone (Edited by), Laurie Fields DeRose (Edited by), W. Bradford Wilcox (Edited by)

9781108415958, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 August 2018

344 pages, 46 b/w illus. 2 maps 19 tables
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.68 kg

Across the Americas and Europe, the family has changed and marriage is in retreat. To answer the question of what's driving these changes and how they impact social and economic inequality, progressives have typically focused on the economic causes of changing family structures, whereas conservatives tend to stress cultural and policy roots. In this illuminating book, an international group of scholars revisit these issues, offering competing and contrasting perspectives from left, center, and right, while also adding a third layer of analysis: namely, the role of gender - changes in women's roles, male employment patterns, and gendered family responsibilities - in driving family change across three continents. Unequal Family Lives: Causes and Consequences in Europe and the Americas adds richness and depth to our understanding of the relationship between family and economics in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. This title is also available as Open Access.

Introduction Laurie F. DeRose, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone and W. Bradford Wilcox
Part I. The Increasingly Unequal Socioeconomic Character of Family Life: 1. Families unequal: socioeconomic gradients in family patterns across the US and Europe Marcia J. Carlson
2. Family forms and social inequality in Latin America Albert Esteve and Elizabeth Flores Paredes
Part II. The Causes of Increasingly Diverging Family Structures: 3. How inequality drives family formation: the prima facie case Andrew J. Cherlin
4. Universal or unique? Understanding diversity in partnership experiences across Europe Brienna Perelli-Harris
5. Family structure and the decline of work for men in postwar America Nicholas Eberstadt
Part III. Consequences of Growing Divergence: 6. Single-mother families, mother's educational level, children's school outcomes: a study of 21 countries Anna Garriga and Paolo Berta
7. Family structure and socioeconomic inequality of opportunity in Europe and the United States Diederik Boertien, Fabrizio Bernardi and Juho Härkönen
8. Families and the wealth of nations: what does family structure have to do with growth around the globe? W. Bradford Wilcox and Joseph Price
Part IV. Bridging the Growing Family Divide: 9. Family policy, socioeconomic inequality and the gender revolution Fran Goldscheider and Sharon Sassler
10. Where's the glue? Policies to close the family gap Richard V. Reeves
Part V. Commentary and Concluding Reflections: 11. The pathology of patriarchy and family inequalities Lynn Prince Cooke
12. Concluding reflections: what does less marriage have to do with more family inequality? W. Bradford Wilcox
13. Commentary/afterword/concluding thoughts on family change and economic inequality June Carbone and Naomi Cahn.

Subject Areas: Family law [LNM], Comparative law [LAM], Law [L], Microeconomics [KCC], Economics [KC], Anthropology [JHM], Sociology: family & relationships [JHBK], Sociology [JHB], Sociology & anthropology [JH]