Shifts in the social contract [[electronic resource] ] : understanding change in American society / / Beth A. Rubin

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910480504203321
• Autore: Rubin Beth A. <1955->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Thousand Oaks, Calif., : Pine Forge, c1996
• ISBN: 1-5063-3820-8; 1-4833-2740-X; 1-4522-4764-1
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (224 p.)
• Disciplina: 303.40973
• Soggetti: Social change - United States; Electronic books.; United States Economic conditions 1981-2001; United States Social conditions 1980-
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-198) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Contents; Preface; Chapter 1 - Social Change in the Twentieth Century; Society in Transition; Economic Transformations; Shifts in the Social Contract; The American Dream; Accord in the Post-World War II Era; Economic Growth and Workplace Security; Marriage, Family, and a House in the Suburbs; Activist Government; Culture and Counterculture; End of a Century, End of an Era; Insecurity in the Economy and the Workplace; Changing Family Structures and Roles; Distracted Government; Cultural Confusion; Implications; Chapter 2 - From Industrial Economy to Flexible Economy; The Labor-Capital AccordUnions and Big Business; The Accord and the Dual Economy; The Economic Consequences of the Accord; The Breakdown of the Accord; Failed Competition and Declining Profitability; Corporate Strategies for Maintaining Profits; The Emerging Economy; Flexible Production and Flexible Accumulation; Dualism in the Service Sector; Structural Unemployment, Inequality, and the Broken Contract; Conclusions; Chapter 3 - Work in the Flexible Economy; Labor Market Segmentation; Work in the Accord Years: The Stable Workplace; Good Jobs: Blue-Collar Jobs in the Primary Labor Market; Good Jobs: White-Collar Jobs in the Primary Labor MarketBad Jobs: The Secondary Labor Market; Work in the Post-Accord Years: The Flexible Workplace; Good Jobs: Dynamically Flexible Workers; Bad Jobs: Statically Flexible Workers; The Challenge to Education; Education in the Accord Era; Education and the Emerging Economy; Conclusions; Chapter 4 - Flexible Families; From Preindustrial Families to Modern Families; The Agrarian Family as Production Unit; The Modern Family as Consumer Unit; Accord-Era Families; The Implicit Contract: Homemakers and Breadwinners; Breakdown of the Accord Family; Forming Flexible FamiliesFlexible Specialization and the Middle Class; Numerical Flexibility and the Working Class; The New Economy and the Underclass; The Feminization of Poverty; Conclusions; Chapter 5 - The Changing Role of Government; Levels of Government Involvement; The Uninvolved State; The Protection of Property; Regulation of Employment Relations; Depression, War, and the End of an Era; The Involved State; The Welfare State; The Warfare State; Tensions in the Involved State; The Distracted State; Globalization of the Economy; Fiscal Crisis; Technological Distractions; New Social MovementsConclusions; Chapter 6 - Culture in a Changing World; Culture: The Creation of Meaning; Culture Versus Social Structure; The Social Contract as Cultural Metaphor; Forces of Cultural Change; Faith, Hope, and Culture; Fundamentalism and Social Change; Religion and the Emerging Social Contract; Globalization and Cultural Change; The Impact of Immigration; The Challenge of Multiculturalism; The Impact of Technology; Conclusions; Chapter 7 - Transition to the Future; The Decline of the Postwar Social Contract, Revisited; A New Era of Flexibility; Possible Worlds; A Pessimistic View of the Future
• Sommario/riassunto: Examining the changes in society in the United States, Beth Rubin explains how the current era differs fundamentally from the post-World War Two period; how and why that change has occurred; and what its meaning is to everyday life. She traces the changes from a domestic to a global economy, the transformation of the workplace, and the impact that these changes have had on how other people are experiencing social aspects of their lives: their families and interpersonal relations, their communities and their experience of the culture of mass society.