Books to Purchase
Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997. ISBN: 0520208617.
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Hochschild, eds. Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2003, 2004. ISBN: 080506995X.
Hansen, Karen. Not-So-Nuclear Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0813535018.
Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1985. ISBN: 0465037569.
Readings by Session
Course Readings.
| LEC # |
TOPICS |
READINGS |
| 1 |
Introduction
Review of course expectations and overview of the key questions of the course. |
Nelson, Julie. "The Study of Choice or the Study of Provisioning?" In Beyond Economic Man. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 0226242013.
Schultz, Theodore. "Population Effects of the Value of Human Time." In The Reader in Population and Development (RPD). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. ISBN: 0312215177.
A version of this article and many others on a similar subject can be found in the special issue of the Journal of Political Economy 82, no. 2 (1974). (Part two) |
| 2 |
Film
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale.
This film, based on the path-breaking book of the same title, offers a powerful narrative recreation of one historical moment. We will use this moment to help contextualize the social scientific questions addressed in next week's reading. |
|
| 3 |
The New Economics of the Family |
Becker, Gary. "On the relevance of the new economics of the family." American Economic Review 64 (1974): 317-319.
Willis, Robert. "What have we learned from the economics of the family?" American Economic Review 77 (1987): 68-81.
Folbre, Nancy. "Children as public goods." American Economic Review 84 (1994): 86-90.
Folbre. "Patriarchy and fertility decisions." Feminist Studies 9 (1983): 261-284.
Sen, Amartya. "Co-operation, inequality and the family." Population and Development Review 15 (1989): 61-76. |
| 4 |
The 'New' Global Economy
Women's work: the care and cleaning of a society. |
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Arlie Hochschild, eds. Global Women: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, 2003, 2004. ISBN: 080506995X.
Read all of it if possible, but especially the chapters by Hochschild, Cheever, Ehrenreich, Zarembka, Thai and Sassen. |
| 5 |
Family Labor and the Standard of Living in the Industrial Revolution
Male/female wage gaps, capital accumulation and household welfare. |
Berg, Maxine. "What difference did women's work make to the industrial revolution." History Workshop 35 (1993): 22-44.
Horrell, Sara, and Jane Humphries. "Old questions, new data, and alternative perspectives: families' living standards in the industrial revolution." Journal of Economic History 52 (1992): 849-880.
Horrell, Humphries, and Voth. "Destined for deprivation: human capital formation and intergenerational poverty in 19th c. England." Explorations in Economic History 38 (2001): 339-365.
Burnette, Joyce. "An investigation of the female-male wage gap during the industrial revolution in Britain." Economic History Review 50 (1997): 257-281. |
| 6 |
"His and Hers: Gender, Consumption and Household Accounting in 18th Century England." (Special lecture by Amanda Vickery)
Sponsored by the Sahin Lecture Series in the History Section and by the Program in Women's Studies. |
|
| 7 |
Continuity and/or Change Since the Middle Ages; or How did we Get Here? |
Sharpe, Pamela. "Continuity and change: women's history and economic history in Britain." Economic History Review 48 (1995): 353-69.
DeVries, Jan. "Between purchasing power and the world of goods." In Women's Work. The English Experience 1650-1914. Edited by Pamela Sharpe. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0340676957.
Vickery, Amanda. "Golden age to separate spheres? A review of the categories and chronology of English women's history." Historical Journal 36 (1993): 383-414. |
| 8 |
Asian Women's Work
The gendered division of labor in Late Imperial China. |
Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 173-272. ISBN: 0520208617. (Part two) |
| 9 |
Black Women's Work
The division of labor by gender and race in America. |
Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1985. ISBN: 0465037569. |
| 10 |
Use class time to work on individual research projects. Students should also schedule individual appointment times with me during the preceding week to discuss the topic for your project. |
|
| 11 |
Gender, Class and Networks of Care |
Hansen, Karen. Not-So-Nuclear Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0813535018. |
| 12 |
The Problem of Reproduction in an Early Modern Economy
Reproductive technologies in Late Imperial China. |
Bray, Francesca. Technology and Gender. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 273-368. ISBN: 0520208617. (Part three) |
| 13 |
The Problem of Reproduction in the Present
The connection between reproduction and inequality in the labor market. |
Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence F. Katz. "The power of the pill: Oral contraceptives and women's career and marriage decisions." Journal of Political Economy 110, no. 4 (2002): 730-770.
Goldin. "A Pollution Theory of Discrimination: Male and Female Differences in Occupations and Earnings." (PDF)
And just for comparison, an older view of the problem by Fuchs, Victor. "Recent trends and long-run prospects for female earnings." American Economic Review 64 (1974): 236-242. |