Child Care and Inequality

Francesca M. Cancian is Professor of Sociology at University of California, Irvine. Demie Kurz is co-director of Women's Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of For Richer, For Poorer (Routledge, 1995). Andrew S. London is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Kent State University. RebeccaReviere is Associate Professor at Howard University. MaryTuominen is Associate Professor of Sociology at Denison University.

"Taken together, the essays emphasize the need to rethink current conceptions of child care & to broaden the framework to include political & community organizing. 8 Tables, 590 References." -- Sociological Abstracts, J. Lindroth"America runs itself on female talent, permits a growing class divide, and begrudges public programs that might extend care. We badly need something more-a social revolution in our thinking about and provision of care. This much needed book helps lead the way." -- Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of The Time Bind: When WorkBecomes Home and Home Becomes Work"The concept of 'carework' has energized recent research. Child Care and Inequality provides a vivid sampling of fresh and broadened insight into some of the most important problems of our time." -- Barrie Thorne, author of Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School"This excellent collection contains invaluable, concrete studies that show how child care in contemporary societies reproduces and deepens social inequality. It should be must reading for policy makers and concerned citizens who worry about inequality and the quality of care." -- Joan C. Tronto, author of Moral Boundaries: APolitical Argument for an Ethic of Care (Routledge)"This sharply-focused analysis of the array of child care options available to ordinary U.S. families demonstrates that far too often we come up short. These scholars lay the ground work for a greater range of options and long over-due supports." -- Madonna Harrington Meyer, editor of Care Work: Gender, Labor, and the Welfare State (Routledge)"This is a marvelous collection of essays.. This volume will make an invaluable contribution to a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses which address issues of children and youth, women's lives, and social inequality." -- Margaret K. Nelson, author of NegotiatedCare: The Experiences of Family Day Care Providers

• 1. Introduction to the Volume Section I: Re-Thinking Family Care Work 2. Almost Worried to Death: Commonalities and Divisions among American Women Caring for Children, 1850-1940 3. Stratification and Care Work: The Case of Mothers 4. Comrades en el Barrio: The Cultural Practice of Co-Mothering in a Rural Paraguyan Neighbourhood 5. Nurturing Babies, Protecting Men: The dynamics of Women's Post-Partum Caregiving Practices 5. Developing Non-Oppressive Standards of good Care Section II: Family Intersections with the State 7. Health-Related Caregiving and Welfare Reform: The Choices Welfare-Reliant Women and Policy Makers Face 8. Making Mothers Fungible: The Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Privatization of Foster Care 9. Are Breadwinner Welfare States Friendly to Mothers and Single Mothers? Section III: Carework in the Marketplace and Community 10. Theorizing Care and Inequality 11. Child Care across Sectors: A Comparison of the Work of Child Care in Three Settings 12. Where Teachers Can Make a Liveable Wage: Activism to Address Inequalities in the Child Care Workforce 13. Activist Mothering and Community Work: Fighting Oppression in Low Income Neighbourhoods 14. Professional Caregivers and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Youth 15. Social Support Organizations for Parents of Children with Cancer Associations: Local and National Problems and Prospects