From all sides we hear that Americans are becoming increasingly
self-absorbed and disconnected, and that their social and civic
responsibility is on the decline. A more encouraging profile
emerges in this study, which emphasizes the domains of life in
which we spend most of our time-work, family, kin, friends, and
home care. The book is based on a national, representative survey
of more than 3,000 Americans aged 25 to 74, supplemented by
intensive interviews with Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans in
New York City, an eight-day time budget study of daily experiences
of contact and giving to others, and in-depth interviews on what
social responsibility means in their lives.
The book explores in detail the extent to which adults contribute
time to caregiving and social support, and the extent of their
financial assistance to members of their families; the time given
to volunteer work; and financial contributions to a variety of
causes, charities, and organizations. The authors also examine how
these contributions are affected by the time and effort required by
job obligations, and they find that to the extent they are able,
adults do provide emotional and social support, and even hands-on
caregiving and financial help, to family and friends.
A major focus of the study is on age and gender differences, and
midlife proves to be a watershed time of transition when civic
activities increase as family obligations decline. For example,
felt obligations to family members and to jobs decrease with age,
while volunteer service increases with age. Less-educated adults
give more of their time; better-educated adults give more money.
Also, women give more time, and men more money when thesexes are
compared. Between generations, social and emotional support is
reciprocal, but reflecting the greatly improved finances of today's
elderly, money flows largely from the elderly to the younger
members of a family.
Americans work longer hours with shorter vacations than adults in
any other Western society, and their labor combined with the taxes
they pay are critical contributions to the larger society. And
although Americans may have more fragile marriages and bear fewer
children than ever, the ties between grandparents, parents, and
children remain strong across our expanded life spans. All told,
this important study adds a hopeful new voice to the overwhelmingly
negative debate about the current state of our civic and social
lives.
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