Trask Globalization and Families

Accelerated Systemic Social Change
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-0-387-88285-7
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 220 Seiten

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected through economic integration, technology, communication, and political transformation, the sphere of the family is a fundamental arena where globalizing processes become realized.  For most individuals, family in whatever configuration, still remains the primary arrangement that meets certain social, emotional, and economic needs. It is within families that decisions about work, care, movement, and identity are negotiated, contested, and resolved. Globalization has profound implications for how families assess the choices and challenges that accompany this process.  Families are integrated into the global economy through formal and informal work, through production and consumption, and through their relationship with nation-states.  Moreover, ever growing communication and information technologies allow families and individuals to have access to others in an unprecedented manner.  These relationships are accompanied by new conceptualizations of appropriate lifestyles, identities, and ideologies even among those who may never be able to access them. Despite a general acknowledgement of the complexities and social significance inherent in globalization, most analyses remain top-down, focused on the global economy, corporate strategies, and political streams. This limited perspective on globalization has had profound implications for understanding social life. The impact of globalization on gender ideologies, work-family relationships, conceptualizations of children, youth, and the elderly have been virtually absent in mainstream approaches, creating false impressions that dichotomize globalization as a separate process from the social order. Moreover, most approaches to globalization and social phenomena emphasize the Western experience. These inaccurate assumptions have profound implications for families, and for the globalization process itself.   In order to create and implement programs and policies that can harness globalization for the good of mankind, and that could reverse some of the deleterious effects that have affected the world's most vulnerable populations, we need to make the interplay between globalization and families a primary focus.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Trask, Bahira

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;5
2;Acknowledgements;12
3;Contents;14
4;Part I Theoretical Perspectives and Paradigms;17
4.1;Globalization as a Dynamic Force in Contemporary Societies;18
4.1.1;1.1 The Debates on Globalization;21
4.1.2;1.2 Definition;22
4.1.3;1.3 Globalization and Causation;23
4.1.4;1.4 What Is “New” About Globalization;26
4.1.5;1.5 Ideational Approaches to Understanding Globalization and Families;30
4.1.6;1.6 Comprehensive, Holistic Approaches to Globalization;33
4.2;Approaches to Understanding Families;36
4.2.1;2.1 Defining Families;38
4.2.2;2.2 The Formal Study of Families;41
4.2.3;2.3 The Current Situation;46
4.2.4;2.4 Crosscultural Perspectives on Families;47
4.2.5;2.5 Fertility;49
4.2.6;2.6 Gender Role Trends;50
4.2.7;2.7 Changes in Families;52
4.3;Gendered Analyses of Globalization;54
4.3.1;3.1 Hegemonic Gender Discourses;56
4.3.2;3.2 Framing the Relationship Between Globalization and Gender;57
4.3.3;3.3 Masculine and Feminine Discourses;60
4.3.4;3.4 How Did We Get Here? Contributions of Family Studies and Gender Theorists;63
4.3.5;3.5 Patriarchy on the Decline?;65
4.3.6;3.6 What is Happening to the “Nuclear” Family;67
4.3.7;3.7 The Divisive Issue of Female Labor and Family Equality;69
4.3.8;3.8 Vulnerable Women and Children;70
4.3.9;3.9 Globalization, Gender, and Inequalities;72
5;Part II Examining Linkages between Globalization and Families;74
5.1;Global Migration and the Formation of Transnational Families;75
5.1.1;4.1 The Demographics of Migration;76
5.1.2;4.2 What is “Different” About Contemporary Migration Patterns?;78
5.1.3;4.3 The Effects of Migration;79
5.1.4;4.4 The Gendered Nature of Migration;81
5.1.5;4.5 The Role of Families in Migration;83
5.1.6;4.6 Children and Migration;87
5.1.6.1;4.6.1 The Issue of Transnational Mothering;87
5.1.6.2;4.6.2 The Success of Immigrant Children;89
5.1.7;4.7 Issues of Cultural Identity;90
5.1.8;4.8 Family Change and Migration;93
5.2;Work–Family Intersections in a Globalizing Context;96
5.2.1;5.1 What is Work?;98
5.2.2;5.2 The Changing Nature of Family Life and Family Roles;99
5.2.3;5.3 The Changing Nature of the World of Work;102
5.2.4;5.4 The Feminization of the Labor Force;103
5.2.5;5.5 Female-Headed Households;106
5.2.6;5.6 Where Does Girl’s Labor Fall?;108
5.2.7;5.7 Care Work and Women;110
5.2.8;5.8 Care Work and Children;113
5.2.9;5.9 Policies that Assist Families and Households;115
5.3;Global Conceptualizations of Children and Childhood;118
5.3.1;6.1 The Spread of a Universal Concept of Childhood;119
5.3.2;6.2 The Pivotal Role of Child Development Pedagogies;120
5.3.3;6.3 Problematic Universal Concepts;122
5.3.4;6.4 Changing Transitions to Adulthood;124
5.3.5;6.5 The Complex Issue of Children’s Rights;126
5.3.6;6.6 Linking Children’s Rights with Women’s Rights;129
5.3.7;6.7 The Role of Gender and Generation in Children’s Lives;130
5.3.8;6.8 Influences of Globalization on Children and Youth;132
5.3.9;6.9 The Problem of Child Labor;133
5.3.10;6.10 Responding to the Issue of Child Labor;134
5.3.11;6.11 The Vulnerability of Young People in a Globalizing Environment;136
5.3.12;6.12 Children and Public Space;137
5.3.13;6.13 Emphasizing the Varied Dimensions of Children and Childhood;140
5.4;Critical Issues Around Global Aging;142
5.4.1;7.1 Reconceptualizing Aging;144
5.4.2;7.2 Growing Concerns Around the Elderly ;145
5.4.2.1;7.2.1 Significant Demographics;145
5.4.2.2;7.2.2 The Relationship Between Aging and Fertility Declines;148
5.4.2.3;7.2.3 Dependency and Social Welfare;149
5.4.3;7.3 Inequality and the Life Course;149
5.4.3.1;7.3.1 Gender Issues;150
5.4.4;7.4 The Crisis in Care;151
5.4.5;7.5 The Case Study of China;152
5.4.6;7.6 The Stress of the Sandwich Generation;153
5.4.7;7.7 How Globalization Could Contribute Positively to Aging Issues;155
5.4.7.1;7.7.1 Beneficial Social Policies;155
6;Part III Future Challenges and Opportunities;157
6.1;Nation-States, Transnational Spaces, and Family Linkages;158
6.1.1;8.1 The Role of the Nation-State with Respect to Its Citizens;160
6.1.2;8.2 The Role of States and Global Financial Flows;162
6.1.3;8.3 Restructuring and Gender Effects;164
6.1.4;8.4 Debates About the Role of the Welfare State and Globalization;166
6.1.5;8.5 Welfare States and Families;168
6.1.6;8.6 Women’s Fertility and the Future of Industrialized Nation- States;171
6.1.7;8.7 Growing Inequalities and the Role of the Nation-State;173
6.1.8;8.8 Agency and the Contemporary Nation-State;175
6.1.9;8.9 What Should be Next Steps?;176
6.2;Debates Around Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality;180
6.2.1;9.1 What and How is Poverty Determined?;181
6.2.2;9.2 Inequality Between and Within Societies;183
6.2.3;9.3 What are the Linkages Between Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality?;185
6.2.4;9.4 Local Responses to Globalizing Conditions;187
6.2.5;9.5 What Can be Done?;188
6.3;Social Change, New Paradigms, and Implications for Families;191
6.3.1;10.1 The Realization of Globalization in the Family Domain;192
6.3.2;10.2 Problematizing Static Concepts;193
6.3.3;10.3 Globalization and Family Change;195
6.3.4;10.4 Gender, Globalization, and the Market;199
6.3.5;10.5 Harnessing the Forces of Globalization;203
6.3.6;10.6 The Continued Significance of Families;205
6.3.7;10.7 Concluding Thoughts;207
7;References;209
8;Index;224