Care and Equality: Inventing a New Family Politics

The enormous shift of American women from full-time, unpaid homemakers to members of the paid workforce, Mona Harrington argues, reveals the extent to which the care of the American family once rested on their shoulders--and she believes that this societal change, with its benefits and problems, requires correspondingly large changes in public policy. Care and Equality is a clear-eyed, intelligent assessment of the social policies of the Clinton era and why their proponents have been unable to bring about healthy policy reform. Harrington, inspired by her strong belief in the liberal movement's capacity to effect positive change, outlines her own agenda: "To assure good care to all members of the society should become a primary principle of our common life," she writes, "along with the assurance of liberty, equality and justice." Care and Equality is an enlightening read for policymakers and electorate both. --Maria Dolan