Naomi R. Gerstel

Till Marriage Do Us Part: Adult Children’s Relationships With Their Parents

Natalia Sarkisian et al. — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:42:36 PST

Although some emphasize the integrative character of marriage, others argue that marriage undermines relations with extended kin, including aging parents. Utilizing NSFH data (N= 6,108), we find that married women and men have less intense intergenerational ties than the never married and the divorced: The married are less likely to live with parents, stay in touch, and give or receive emotional, financial, and practical help. These differences hold even when we control for structural characteristics, including time demands, needs and resources, and demographic and extended family characteristics. We conclude that marriage is a greedy institution for both women and men. Given the inadequacy of structural explanations, we suggest that cultural explanations for this greediness should be explored.

Employers Meet Families: Gender, Class and Paid Work Hour Differences Among U.S. Medical Workers

Dan Clawson et al. — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:36:32 PST

Fathering, Class, and Gender: A Comparison of Physicians and Emergency Medical Technicians

Carla Shows et al. — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:15:49 PST

Using a multimethod approach (including a survey, interviews, and observations), this article examines the link between class and masculinities by comparing the way two groups—professional men (physicians) and working-class men (emergency medical technicians, or EMTs)—practice fatherhood. First, the authors show that these two groups practice different types of masculinity as they engage in different kinds of fatherhood. Physicians emphasize “public fatherhood,” which entails attendance at public events but little involvement in the daily care of their children. In contrast, EMTs are not only involved in their children's public events but also emphasize “private fatherhood,” which entails involvement in their daily care. Second, the authors suggest that these differing types of involvement can be explained by the contrasting employment conditions of each group as well the gender order of their families, especially the divergent labor market positions of spouses and the division of parenting. The authors conclude by arguing that these working-class fathers are “undoing gender” while professional fathers reproduce the conventional gender order.

Rethinking Families and Community: The Color, Class, and Centrality of Extended Kin Ties

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 12:11:30 PST

Although a focus on marriage and the nuclear family characterizes much sociological research and social commentary, this article suggests that this focus ignores the familial experiences of many Americans, particularly those on the lower end of the economic spectrum for whom extended kin are central. African Americans and Latinos/as are more involved with kin than whites, but class trumps race in this regard: African Americans, Latinos/as, and whites with fewer economic resources rely more on extended kin than do those more affluent. The emphasis on marriage and the nuclear family may actually promulgate a vision of family life that dismisses the very social resources and community ties that are critical to the survival strategies of those in need. In contrast to those who have argued that marriage is the foundation of the community or even, in that overused phrase, the “basic unit of society,” this article suggests that marriage actually detracts from social ties to broader communities just as an emphasis on marriage and the nuclear family, to the exclusion of the extended family, distorts and reduces the power and reach of social policy.

Marital Alternatives and the Regulation of Sex

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:18:22 PDT

Commuter Marriage: A Review

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:17:32 PDT

Affirmative Action: Institutional Resource or Procedural Problem

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:16:50 PDT

Explaining the Symptomatology of Separated and Divorced Women and Men: The Role of Material Resources and Social Networks

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:16:16 PDT

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:15:28 PDT

Marital Dissolution and Health: Do Males or Females Have Greater Risk?

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:14:47 PDT

Divorce and Stigma

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:13:55 PDT

Divorce and Kin Ties: The Importance of Gender

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:12:26 PDT

Divorce, Gender and Social Integration

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:11:33 PDT

Kinkeeping and Depression: Gender, Recipients of Care and Work-Family Conflict

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:06:41 PDT

The Work of Kinkeeping and Friend Keeping: The Effects of Marriage

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:04:54 PDT

Caring for Kith and Kin: Gender, Employment and the Privatization of Care

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:04:00 PDT

Therapeutic Incarceration of Homeless Families: A Social Policy Produced by Two Scrambles for Resources

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:00:02 PDT

A Conversation about Parenting

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:58:51 PDT

Inequality and the FMLA: Race, Gender, and Leaves from Work

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:54:46 PDT

Homeless Mothers and Depression: Misdirected Policy

Naomi R. Gerstel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:50:26 PDT