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Publication Detailed Description
The consequences of gender in homogamic couples
Journal Title
Sociology
Year (definitive publication)
2018
Language
English
Country
United Kingdom
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Abstract
In studies which analyse the social distance between spouses at the moment a couple is formed, and which attempt to understand the role of the family, and in particular of marriage, in crystallising social divisions, the concept of homogamy has often been purely descriptive. This article questions this static approach and seeks to pinpoint the changes which social homogamy undergoes in the course of conjugal life, addressing women’s decisions on work–family articulation. Drawing on a critical approach to the concept of rational choice, the article intends to demonstrate the merit of an interpretative approach by analysing how members of a sample of 27 university-educated Portuguese partnered mothers take their decisions in the context of an interdependency framework in which the dynamics of family interaction tend to thwart individual career path development, rendering spouses dependent on each other.
Acknowledgements
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Keywords
Dual-earner couples,Gender,Homogamy,Work–life balance
Fields of Science and Technology Classification
- Sociology - Social Sciences