In understanding processes of change in family work, examining differences in the degree of change between different social groups (‘changing differences’) can be more informative than focusing either on overall changes or on cross-sectional differences by social group alone. British and US time-use data sets are used to examine 30-year changes in men’s contribution to domestic work and child care by differences in educational attainment. Changes are compared for fathers in dual-earner couples with different levels of education. The findings illustrate two contrasting changing differences: a ‘catch-up’ effect over time between fathers with different educational attainment in the case of domestic labour; and in the case of child care, a widening of the gap by education. The challenges posed by these changing differences for common structural explanations of change in family work are discussed.
Bianchi, S.M., J.P. Robinson and M.A. Milkie ( 2006) Changing Rhythms of American Family Life (Rose Series in Sociology). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
2.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
3.
Coltrane, S. ( 2000) ‘Research on Household Labor: Modeling and Measuring the Social Embeddedness of Routine Family Work’, Journal of Marriage and the Family62: 1209-33.
4.
Coltrane, S. ( 2004) ‘Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions and Dilemmas’ , in M. Coleman and L. Ganong (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Families: Considering the Past, Contemplating the Future, pp. 224-43. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5.
Crompton, R. ( 2006) Employment and the Family. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
6.
Crompton, R. and F. Harris ( 1998) ‘Gender Relations and Employment: The Impact of Occupations’, Work, Employment & Society12(2): 297-315.
7.
Davis, S.N. and T.N. Greenstein ( 2004) ‘Cross-national Variations in the Division of Household Labor’, Journal of Marriage and Family66(5): 1260-71.
8.
Dermott, E. ( 2008) Intimate Fatherhood: A Sociological Analysis. Oxford: Routledge.
9.
Deutsch, F.M. and S.E. Saxon ( 1998) ‘Traditional Ideologies, Nontraditional Lives’ , Sex Roles (38): 331-62.
10.
Duncan, S. and R. Edwards ( 1999) Lone Mothers, Paid Work and Gendered Moral Rationalities . Basingstoke: Macmillan.
11.
Duncan, S., R. Edwards, T. Reynolds and P. Alldred ( 2003) Work, Employment & Society17(2): 309-30.
12.
England, P. and M. Budig ( 1998) ‘Gary Becker on the Family: His Genius, Impact, and Blind Spots’, in D. Clawson (ed.) Required Reading: Sociology’s most Influential Books, pp. 95-111. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
13.
Esping-Andersen, G. ( 1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. London: Polity.
14.
Ferree, M.M. ( 1991) ‘Beyond Separate Spheres: Feminism and Family Research’ , Journal of Marriage and the Family52: 866-84.
15.
Fisher, K., M. Egerton, J.I. Gershuny and J.P. Robinson ( 2007) ‘Gender Convergence in the American Heritage Time Use Study (AHTUS)’, Social Indicators Research82(1): 1-33.
16.
Gershuny, J.I. ( 2000) Changing Times: Work and Leisure in Postindustrial Society . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
17.
Gershuny, J.I., M. Bittman and J. Brice ( 2005) ‘Exit, Voice, and Suffering: Do Couples Adapt to Changing Employment Patterns?’, Journal of Marriage and Family67: 656-65.
18.
Gerstel, N., D. Clawson and D. Huyser ( 2007) ‘Explaining Job Hours of Physicians, Nurses, EMTs and Nursing Assistants: Gender, Class, Jobs and Family’, in B. Rubin (ed.) Workplace Temporalities , pp. 369-402. Amsterdam: Elsevier Press.
19.
Giddens, A. ( 1992) The Transformation of Intimacy. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
20.
Goldscheider, F.K. and L.J. Waite ( 1991) New Families No Families; The Transformation of the American Home. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
21.
Hook, J.L. ( 2006) ‘Care in Context: Men’s Unpaid Work in 20 Countries, 1965- 2003’, American Sociological Review71(4): 639-60.
22.
Moodie, G.C. ( 1988) ‘The Debates about Higher Education Quality in Britain and the USA’, Studies in Higher Education13(1): 5-13.
23.
Morris, L. ( 1987) ‘The Life Cycle and the Labour Market in Hartlepool’ , in A. Bryman, B. Bytheway, P. Allatt and K. Teresa (eds) Rethinking the Life Cycle , pp. 192-206. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Sheridan House.
24.
Risman, B. ( 1998) Gender Vertigo. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
25.
Robinson, J.P. and G. Godbey ( 1999) Time for Life: the Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time, 2nd edn. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.
26.
Robinson, J.P. and F.T. Juster ( 1985) ‘The Validity and Reliability of Diaries Versus Alternative Time Use Measures’, in F.T. Stafford and F.P. Stafford (eds) Time, Goods, and Well-Being, pp. 33-62. Michigan: Survey Research Centre, University of Michigan.
27.
Scott, J., D.F. Alwin and M. Brown ( 1996) ‘Changing Sex-role Attitudes’, Sociology30(3): 427-45.
28.
Sullivan, O. ( 2000) ‘The Division of Domestic Labour: 20 Years of Change?’ , Sociology34(3): 437-56.
29.
Sullivan, O. ( 2006) Changing Gender Relations, Changing Families: Tracing the Pace of Change. New York: Rowman and Littlefield (Gender Lens Series), p. 141.
30.
Thompson, L. ( 1991) ‘Family Work: Women’s Sense of Fairness’ , Journal of Family Issues12(2): 181-96.
31.
Veblen, T. ( 1925[1899]) The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. London: Allen & Unwin.
32.
Young, M. and P. Willmott ( 1973) The Symmetrical Family. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
