...Basically, the book is a detailed and compelling case for all the moms who quit their high-powered corporate jobs after reading The Time Bind to go back to work (quitting was not Arlie's purpose, but that was the spin the media put on it...). It is much more than that, but the overwhelming message is that moms don't have to quit their jobs to be good parents. Indeed, relatively few children think their parents work too much.
If you cannot read the whole book, I would urge you to read chapters 2 and 10 (researchers like myself will end up reading it more than once to digest all of the new findings!). Chapter 2 covers an exercise where kids were asked to "grade" their parents on various aspects of life, work, and parenting. It is an odd exercise because the tables are turned on those who usually "grade" and "discipline" in the family (as Galinsky notes at the beginning of the chapter,...), but it provides great insights. Fathers get lower marks than moms on many involvement type issues, but even these are not horrible (even among teens). The main messages here seem to be that "focused" time with children and daily rituals are important. Neither of these require a particularly short working day. These findings are novel, intriguing and important.
Chapter 10 provides a guide to "navigating" issues of work and family. Galinsky's long history and experience make this a great chapter (indeed, it would be a great stand-alone article). Much of the solution to work/family problems and conflicts lies in communication, both at home and at work. No surprise there. What is really new is Galinsky's capturing the need for parents to have BOTH focused time and down time with their children. Like all great insights, it is a finding that seems so obvious that you wonder why you hadn't thought of it before.
Galinsky also provides a model (Chapters 4 & 5, building upon the one provided in the National Study of the Changing Workforce book) of work and family wherein the two are parallel, mainly having to do with control, demands, focus, and support. By construction, the model of "family" only works for parents (which is only fair given the focus of the book), and the model of "work" only works for employees (which is also only fair given the subtitle). But within that context, the model is reasonable and very helpful for thinking through the issues, whether the reader is a working parent or a researcher. Here are some other findings that jumped out:
As one who believes that many people should be cutting back on working time (and some evidence in the book supports this view), I cannot say that I entirely agree with the conclusion that we are not working too much. Nonetheless, the recommendations Galinsky provides are all sensible, realistic, and would, if acted upon, undoubtedly improve the work and family lives of many Americans. I
hope they are listening.
Reviewer: Bob Drago, Pennsylvania State University
Originally posted October 12, 1999, to the "Work, Children, and Family" newsgroup maintained at PSU
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