This book addresses key issues regarding the nexus of work and family in society at the beginning of the 21st century. For many families, the "balancing act" brings rewards as well as concerns. Employers and governments struggle with whether and how to assist in achieving balance.
The work presents original research that addresses the challenges in meeting work and family obligations. Each chapter provides policy recommendations that many help achieve better work-family balance, changes in work-family attitudes, conditions leading to firms' adopting policies to support work-family balance, and studies of child outcomes in dual earner families.

The ?juggling act? of work and family that has characterized life in the past couple of decades has become a significant focus of those interested in the social condition. Editors Toby L. Parcel and Daniel Cornfield draw on two major themes for this volume: First, that crucial to an understanding of the interplay between work and family is an acknowledgment of the varied ways time influences work and family processes?and outcomes. This book looks at time in both the macro historical sense as well as through examination of the more quotidian choices involved in balancing work and family. Second, Parcel and Cornfield consider the social policy implications that inhere in these essays. Contributors to Work and Family have been in every case encouraged to think explicitly about how governmental policies, as well as those of individual firms, can be derived from their research. This provocative collection is ideally suited to courses on work and occupations, family studies, organizations, and gender roles, taught in a number of disciplines, and will be of interest to scholars in these areas.

One of the nation's fastest growing municipalities, Wake County, North Carolina, added more than a quarter million new residents during the first decade of this century, an increase of almost 45 percent. At the same time, partisanship increasingly dominated local politics, including school board races. Against this backdrop, Toby Parcel and Andrew Taylor consider the ways diversity and neighborhood schools have influenced school assignment policies in Wake County, particularly during 2000-2012, when these policies became controversial locally and a topic of national attention. The End of Consensus explores the extraordinary transformation of Wake County during this period, revealing inextricable links between population growth, political ideology, and controversial K-12 education policies. Drawing on media coverage, in-depth interviews with community leaders, and responses from focus groups, Parcel and Taylor's innovative work combines insights from these sources with findings from a survey of 1,700 county residents. Using a broad range of materials and methods, the authors have produced the definitive story of politics and change in public school assignments in Wake County while demonstrating the importance of these dynamics to cities across the country.

The ?juggling act? of work and family that has characterized life in the past couple of decades has become a significant focus of those interested in the social condition. Editors Toby L. Parcel and Daniel Cornfield draw on two major themes for this volume: First, that crucial to an understanding of the interplay between work and family is an acknowledgment of the varied ways time influences work and family processes?and outcomes. This book looks at time in both the macro historical sense as well as through examination of the more quotidian choices involved in balancing work and family. Second, Parcel and Cornfield consider the social policy implications that inhere in these essays. Contributors to Work and Family have been in every case encouraged to think explicitly about how governmental policies, as well as those of individual firms, can be derived from their research. This provocative collection is ideally suited to courses on work and occupations, family studies, organizations, and gender roles, taught in a number of disciplines, and will be of interest to scholars in these areas.