Staging reciprocity and mobilizing networks in working families

Hansen

Karen V.

Hansen, Karen V.

Author

University of California, Berkeley

Center for Working Families

University of California, Berkeley. Center for Working Families

Sponsor

text

working paper

Berkeley, CA Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley 2002 2002 monographic

Berkeley, CA

Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley

2002

monographic

English eng

English

eng

electronic application/pdf p. 1 born digital

electronic

application/pdf

p. 1

born digital

Based on in-depth case studies of family networks in Northern California, this article explores the conditions under which working families successfully mobilize networks, and those under which they fail. It analyzes how working parents mobilize networks to help them care for their school-aged children.

Members within the care-giving networks I studied continuously calibrated the extent to which their needs registered on a scale of importance and immediacy. Network members analyzed the context and assessed peoples' commitments, needs, intentions, and capacities in light of their own. Perceptions of value and worth were fundamental to the social construction of fairness and balance. Through this process of perception, valuation, and interpretation, they constructed reciprocity.

Karen V. Hansen is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Working Families from 1999-2000.

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper No. 33

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper

No. 33

Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/)

wfn_bwpaper_28.pdf

MChB English eng

MChB

English eng

English

eng