Citizens, Families, and Reform

Modern families are economic institutions of great productivity. They contribute as much to a society’s economic well-being as does worker productivity in formal markets. In Citizens, Families, and Reform, Ringen shows how long-standing inequalities of income and class are flexible and changing in post-industrial societies. Such inequalities respond to structural changes such as social mobility and to public policies such as those of the welfare state. This is a study of the process from careful statistical analysis to specific policy recommendations. The book draws on two strands of research, one on children and families and the other on social inequality.