In the controversial public debate over modern American families, the vast changes in family life – the rise of single, two-paycheck , and same-sex parents – have often been blamed for declining morality and unhappy children. Drawing upon pioneering research with the children of the gender revolution, The Unfinished Revolution reveals that it is not a lack of “family values,” but rigid social and economic forces that make it difficult to have a vibrant and committed family and work life.
Despite the entrance of women into the workforce and the blurring of once clearly defined gender boundaries, men and women live in a world where the demands of managing parenting and work, autonomy and commitment, time and money are left largely unresolved. The Unfinished Revolution finds that while an overwhelming majority of young men and women see an egalitarian balance within committed relationships as the ideal, today’s social and economic realities remain based on conventional – and now obsolete – distinctions between breadwinning and caretaking. In this equity vacuum, men and women develop conflicting strategies, with women stressing self-reliance and men seeking a new traditionalism.
With compassion for all perspectives, The Unfinished Revolution argues that whether one decides to give in to traditionally gender-divided relationships or to avoid marriage altogether, these approaches are second-best responses, not personal preferences or inherent attributes, and they will shift if new options can be created to help people achieve their egalitarian aspirations.
“Following her earlier pathbreaking studies of gender, Kathleen Gerson now takes us into an illuminating exploration of the ‘children of the gender revolution.’ With style and brio, The Unfinished Revolution offers revealing and often surprising insights into the present and future of American families.” – Viviana A. Zelizer, PrincetonUniversity
“It is definitely worth waiting for this long-anticipated culmination of Kathleen Gerson’s superb trilogy about the complex relations between family and work in modern America. An effective blend of theory and research,…it provides the perfect context within which to situate Americans’ current public discourse.” Eviatar Zerubavel, Sociological Forum, 2012
“Kathleen Person’s fourth masterful book on how people have negotiated the seismic changes of the last quarter of the 20th century in the United States….Her findings contradict much of the hand wringing…about the decline of family values, the corrosion of family caregiving, and the decline of women’s work ambition….The Unfinished Revolution is a meticulously researched and creative masterpiece.” Mary Blair-Loy, Work and Occupations, 2011