Creating and Transforming Households: The Constraints of the World-Economy

Smith, Joan and Imamuel Wallerstein

ISBN 10: 0521427134 / ISBN 13: 9780521427135

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1992

About this Item

Very Good paperback (very light edgewear, clean and unmarked). 310 pp Paperback. The image on this page is of the actual book for sale.

Seller Inventory # 58966

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Creating and Transforming Households: The Constraints of the World-Economy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521427134
• ISBN 13: 9780521427135
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Economics

About this title

Synopsis

This book, first published in 1992, seeks an explanation of the pattern of sharp discrepancy of wage levels across the world-economy for work of comparable productivity. It explores how far such differences can be explained by the different structures of households as 'income-pooling units', examining three key variables: location in the core or periphery of the world-economy; periods of expansion versus periods of contraction in the world-economy; and secular transformation over time. The authors argue that both the boundaries of households and their sources of income are molded by the changing patterns of the world-economy, but are also modes of defense against its pressures. Drawing empirical data from eight local regions in three different zones - the United States, Mexico and southern Africa - this book presents a systematic and original approach to the intimate link between the micro-structures of households and the structures of the capitalist world-economy at a global level.

Review

"This book is a useful sourcebook for those interested iin the specific regions of the world it covers. Perhaps more importantly, it provides empirical evidence to confirm that even in the United States, the classic Fordist worker has existed only during very short periods, while the economic contribution of other members of the household has always been a crucial factor in their reproduction." Belinda Leach, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology