1. Rubin says working class people are less likely to plan for the future. Does she feel this is a cause or an effect of their lack of social mobility? Why does Rubin think that working class people are much more likely to have difficult lives growing up than middle class people, yet are much less likely to complain about it?
2. Unemployment is more than just not having a job. It also has a big impact on both the employed person him/herself and their family. What are some of the effects you could expect the recent recession (depression in many working-class industrial communities of the type Rubin writes about) to have had on family lives?
3. What is the distinction Rubin makes between working class families that are "hard-livers" and "settled-livers"?
4. What are some of the reasons working class couples tend to find it much harder to adjust to marriage than middle class couples do?
5. How do the different ways they've been raised and the different lives they lead make it difficult for working-class husbands and wives to:
1. communicate well with each other?
2. mutually enjoy sex?
6. It's been said that women have traditionally been responsible for maintaining the "social fabric." What do you think that means? Is it true, judging from Worlds of Pain?

Go to Part II: The Family and the Economy

Go to Part I: The Invisible Americans

Go back to SOCIOLOGY 260 -- Sociology of Marriage and the Family Discussion Questions

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