The Career Mystique: Cracks in the American Dream / Edition 1

by Phyllis Moen, Patricia Roehling

Overview

The Career Mystique shows that most Americans-men and women-continue to embrace the myth that hard work, long hours, and continuous employment pay off, even though it is out of date and out of place in twenty-first-century America. Phyllis Moen and Patricia Roehling argue that the lock step arrangements around education, work, family, and retirement no longer fit the realities and risks of contemporary living, yet the roles, rules, and regulations spawned by the career mystique remain in place. This books shows that ambiguities and uncertainties about the future abound in boardrooms, in offices, and on factory floors, as Americans face the realities of corporate restructuring, chronic job insecurity, and double demands at work and at home. Moen and Roehling show the career mystique for what it is: a false myth standing in the way of creating new, alternative workplaces and career flexibilities.

Based on research funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the National Institute on Aging.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742528628
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/20/2004
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.07(w) x 9.51(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Phyllis Moen holds the McKnight Presidential Chair of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Working Parents and Women's Two Roles and editor of It's About Time: Couples and Careers. She recently served as president of the Eastern Sociological Society. Patricia Roehling is professor and chair of the psychology department at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Career Mystique Chapter 2 Learning the Career Mystique: Where Do Values and Expectations Come From? Chapter 3 Do Young Adults Still Believe in the Career Mystique? Chapter 4 If Real Work is Paid Work, Can New Parents Follow The Career Mystique? Chapter 5 Living the Career Mystique: Making It, Giving Up, or Slipping Behind? Chapter 6 Life Midcourse: Are Retirement or Second Acts Inevitable, Desirable, or Even Possible? Chapter 7 Policies and Practices: Maintaining the Status Quo or Challenging the Career Mystique? Chapter 8 Beyond the Career Mystique: Recasting the Lockstep Life Course

Editorial Reviews

Worthy of attention.

PsycCRITIQUES

In this compelling, clearly written, and well-researched book, Moen and Roehling make the best case I've seen for sustainable careers. If it's good for the environment, why shouldn't we do it for human beings? A powerful idea whose time has come.

Arlie Hochschild

The book provides interesting details, including international examples and excellent references. Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

The book provides interesting details, including international examples and excellent references. Highly recommended.

Choice

In this compelling, clearly written, and well-researched book, Moen and Roehling make the best case I've seen for sustainable careers. If it's good for the environment, why shouldn't we do it for human beings? A powerful idea whose time has come.--Arlie Hochschild, author of The Commercialization of Intimate Life and The Time Bind

The Career Mystique is a chilling account of the mismatch between couples' dreams and changing realities. Whether at work or at home, at any stage of adult life, nothing can be taken for granted anymore. This excellent book led me to conclude that we can no longer be complacent about the crisis we are in as family members and employees.--Rosanna Hertz, Luella LaMer professor of sociology and women's studies, Wellesley College

The book provides interesting details, including international examples and excellent references. Highly recommended.--CHOICE

From the Publisher

The book provides interesting details, including international examples and excellent references. Highly recommended.

CHOICE

The Career Mystique is a chilling account of the mismatch between couples’ dreams and changing realities. Whether at work or at home, at any stage of adult life, nothing can be taken for granted anymore. This excellent book led me to conclude that we can no longer be complacent about the crisis we are in as family members and employees.

Rosanna Hertz

Provokes a great deal of reflection in the reader, challenging us to think in new ways about a plethora of interconnected aspects of the social world. An accessible sociological text.

Employment and Society Work