Courses:

The Economic History of Work and Family >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Books to Purchase


Amazon logo Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780520208612.

Amazon logo Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Hochschild, eds. Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2003, 2004. ISBN: 9780805069952.

Amazon logo Hansen, Karen. Not-So-Nuclear Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780813535012.

Amazon logo Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1985. ISBN: 9780465037568.



Readings by Session



LEC #TOPICSREADINGS
1Introduction

Review of course expectations and overview of the key questions of the course.
Amazon logo Nelson, Julie. "The Study of Choice or the Study of Provisioning?" In Beyond Economic Man. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226242019.

Amazon logo Schultz, Theodore. "Population Effects of the Value of Human Time." In The Reader in Population and Development (RPD). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780312215170.
A version of this article and many others on a similar subject can be found in the special issue of the Journal of Political Economy 82, no. 2 (1974). (Part two)
2Film

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale.
This film, based on the path-breaking book of the same title, offers a powerful narrative recreation of one historical moment. We will use this moment to help contextualize the social scientific questions addressed in next week's reading.
3The New Economics of the Family Becker, Gary. "On the relevance of the new economics of the family." American Economic Review 64 (1974): 317-319.

Willis, Robert. "What have we learned from the economics of the family?" American Economic Review 77 (1987): 68-81.

Folbre, Nancy. "Children as public goods." American Economic Review 84 (1994): 86-90.

Folbre. "Patriarchy and fertility decisions." Feminist Studies 9 (1983): 261-284.

Sen, Amartya. "Co-operation, inequality and the family." Population and Development Review 15 (1989): 61-76.
4The 'New' Global Economy

Women's work: the care and cleaning of a society.
Amazon logo Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Hochschild, eds. Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2003, 2004. ISBN: 9780805069952.
Read all of it if possible, but especially the chapters by Hochschild, Cheever, Ehrenreich, Zarembka, Thai and Sassen.
5Family Labor and the Standard of Living in the Industrial Revolution

Male/female wage gaps, capital accumulation and household welfare.
Berg, Maxine. "What difference did women's work make to the industrial revolution." History Workshop 35 (1993): 22-44.

Horrell, Sara, and Jane Humphries. "Old questions, new data, and alternative perspectives: families' living standards in the industrial revolution." Journal of Economic History 52 (1992): 849-880.

Horrell, Humphries, and Voth. "Destined for deprivation: human capital formation and intergenerational poverty in 19th c. England." Explorations in Economic History 38 (2001): 339-365.

Burnette, Joyce. "An investigation of the female-male wage gap during the industrial revolution in Britain." Economic History Review 50 (1997): 257-281.
6"His and Hers: Gender, Consumption and Household Accounting in 18th Century England." (Special lecture by Amanda Vickery)

Sponsored by the Sahin Lecture Series in the History Section and by the Program in Women's Studies.
7Continuity and/or Change Since the Middle Ages; or How did we Get Here? Sharpe, Pamela. "Continuity and change: women's history and economic history in Britain." Economic History Review 48 (1995): 353-69.

Amazon logo DeVries, Jan. "Between purchasing power and the world of goods." In Women's Work. The English Experience 1650-1914. Edited by Pamela Sharpe. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780340676950.

Vickery, Amanda. "Golden age to separate spheres? A review of the categories and chronology of English women's history." Historical Journal 36 (1993): 383-414.
8Asian Women's Work

The gendered division of labor in Late Imperial China.
Amazon logo Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 173-272. ISBN: 9780520208612. (Part two)
9Black Women's Work

The division of labor by gender and race in America.
Amazon logo Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1985. ISBN: 9780465037568.
10Use class time to work on individual research projects. Students should also schedule individual appointment times with me during the preceding week to discuss the topic for your project.
11Gender, Class and Networks of Care Amazon logo Hansen, Karen. Not-So-Nuclear Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780813535012.
12The Problem of Reproduction in an Early Modern Economy

Reproductive technologies in Late Imperial China.
Amazon logo Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 273-368. ISBN: 9780520208612. (Part three)
13The Problem of Reproduction in the Present

The connection between reproduction and inequality in the labor market.
Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence F. Katz. "The power of the pill: Oral contraceptives and women's career and marriage decisions." Journal of Political Economy 110, no. 4 (2002): 730-770.

Goldin. "A Pollution Theory of Discrimination: Male and Female Differences in Occupations and Earnings." (PDF)
And just for comparison, an older view of the problem by Fuchs, Victor. "Recent trends and long-run prospects for female earnings." American Economic Review 64 (1974): 236-242.

 








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