Beyond the lines: gender, work, and care in the new economy – a view from the U.S.

Over the last few decades, shifting socioeconomic and politico-cultural landscapes have brought sweeping changes in gender relations as well as in demographic and family dynamics, all of which have had a significant impact on the trade-off between family and work. This chapter thus has two primary goals. The first is to present some findings on how current economic and social changes have affected the ways people organize work, care, and gender relationships, with special attention at the U.S. case. While the United States offers a strategic example of the transnational economic and demographic shifts that are transforming the nature of work and care worldwide, it lags behind many post-industrial nations in its efforts to create new institutional forms to adequately address these new breadwinning and caregiving needs. The second goal is thus to gain a clearer understanding of the US case through the analysis of 120 depth interviews with American adults living and working in places -- such as Silicon Valley and the New York metropolitan area -- that are located on the cutting edge of economic and social change.