Tyyskä, Vappu

English

Journals @ The Mount

121Atlantis, Volume 29.1working on a writer who was difficult, and whom it wouldhave been hard to be a loyal and patient friend to, whetherin the 1790s or now.Ann (Rusty) Shteir York University_______________Families, Labour and Love: Family Diversity in aChanging World. Maureen Baker. Vancouver: UBCPress, 2001; xii + 316 pages; ISBN 0-7748-0849-7;$24.95 (paper). Maureen Baker is the respected author of manyCanadian family sociology textbooks. In Families, Labourand Love, she offers substantive comparisons of differentaspects of Canadian family life with Australia and NewZealand. This choice is based on similarities in the threecountries' family policies, demographics, and the presenceof similar socioeconomic groups and populations ofindigenous peoples.The comparisons are done with reliance "mainlyon a political economy and feminist perspective" (243). Thefeminist perspective is particularly evident throughout thebook, through attention to gender divisions and inequalitiesin all areas of family life, including the division of paid andunpaid work (such as child care) as well as the negativeconsequences (dependence, poverty, violence) of theseinequalities on women and children. Additionally, chapterfour gives a useful overview of the main theoreticalperspectives. The two new areas of theorizing, namely theemerging emphasis on fatherhood and the rethinking ofemotions and intimacy in families, should be of particularinterest to researchers in the area of family sociology.While addressing similarities and differencesamong the three countries, the book's main theme ofdiversity is found in two early chapters which contrast thefamily lives of colonizers, the colonized peoples, and recentimmigrants. There are also extensive discussions ofdifferent family forms (two-parent, one-parent, married,cohabiting, divorced, remarried). Considering recentlegislative changes regarding same-sex marriages and rights(at least in Canada), this would be something to add tofuture editions of this book.  As with other of Maureen Baker's familytextbooks, this one is well written and easy to follow,making it an ideal university text. The three-countrycomparisons, by and large, are crisp and cogent. Chaptersseven, eight, and nine give solid comparative data anddiscussions on families and gender division of paid andunpaid work; separation, divorce and remarriage; and stateregulation of family life. Chapter nine is particularlyinformative, focusing on the similarities in the threecountries' welfare state regimes and the ill effects of welfarestate restructuring on family life, including the increasedemphasis on traditional "family values."Nevertheless, there is some unevenness in thequantity and presentation of information in some areas. Forexample, chapter three on settler families and segments onrelationship violence in chapter five rely nearly completelyon Canadian data. Overall, there is an abundance ofmaterials from Canada and New Zealand, but less so fromAustralia. This is most evident in chapter six on childhood,reproduction, and child care where a comparison of Canadaand New Zealand dominates. Other sets of comparativeinformation from American and European family researchare also occasionally used to enhance the three-countrycomparison.Families, Labour and Love is a valuable additionto the textbooks in this area. It offers a good overview ofthe main theories and issues in family sociology whilebringing welcome attention to global diversities andsimilarities in an era that requires us to look both withinand beyond the borders of nation-states. Students andinstructors will also benefit from the glossary of mainterms, and the lists of thought-provoking discussionquestions attached to each chapter.Vappu Tyyskä Ryerson University_______________Divine Feminine: Theosophy and Feminism inEngland. Joy Dixon. Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversity Press, 2001; illustrations; xix + 293 pages;ISBN 0-8018-6499-2; $46.00US (cloth).Feminist studies of women and religion may beseen to fall into a number of general categories. One isconfessional. Whether conventionally religious (e.g.,Christian) or "alternative" (e.g., New Age, Wiccan), thesestudies are intended for adherents, to help them understandand explore their own tradition. Another category iscritical/analytical, in which the religious tradition beingengaged is subject to feminist assessment regarding thedegree to which the tradition is empowering or damaging towomen (generally the latter.) Both of these are normative,insofar as they presume a certain central truth (in thetradition, in the first instance, and in feminism in thesecond) by which religious traditions and their adherentsmay be judged. While each has its place, there is still otherimportant work to be done, specifically with regard towomen's historical and material engagement in, andarticulation of, religious and quasi-religious organizationsand ideas. Neither advocacy nor denunciation, this kind ofscholarly work is lamentably rarer than it ought to be. JoyDixon's meticulous and brilliant study of the relationshipbetween the feminist movement and esoteric (alternative)spirituality in England stands as a model for how such workought be undertaken in the future.

Families, Labour and Love: Family Diversity in a Changing World. Maureen Baker.

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Families, Labour and Love: Family Diversity in a Changing World. Maureen Baker.

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