Today I discuss 3 fantastic new books on work, families, and social change - C19-21.

'Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving', by Caitlyn Collins https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178851/making-motherhood-work

'Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood', by Helen McCarthy

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/double-lives-9781408870761/

'Bread Winner: An Intimate History of the Victorian Economy' by Emma Griffin.

yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230062/bread-winner

Also mentioned:

'Women's labour force participation in nineteenth‐century England and Wales'

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ehr.12876

'The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment,

Education, and Family' by Claudia Goldin

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/the_quiet_revolution_that_transformed_womens_employment_education_and_family.pdf

'Changes in the Labour Supply of Married Women' by Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn

www.nber.org/papers/w11230.pdf

'From ‘MeToo’ to Boko Haram: A survey of levels and trends of gender inequality in the world' by Stephan Klasen

https://www.nber.org/papers/w11230.pdf

'Women Forget That Men are the Masters : Gender Antagonism and Socio-economic Change in Kisii District, Kenya', by Margrethe Silberschmidt

www.bookdepository.com/book/9789171064394

Why has China grown so fast for so long despite vast corruption?

In China's Gilded Age, Professor Ang argues that not all types of corruption hurt growth, nor do they cause the same kind of harm. Ang reveals that the rise of capitalism was not accompanied by the eradication of corruption, but rather by its evolution from thuggery and theft to access money. In doing so, she challenges the way we think about corruption and capitalism, not only in China but around the world.

This is an excerpt, read by Alice Evans.

Professor Ang tweets @yuenyuenang

Book details: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/yy-ang/chinas-gilded-age/

Nineteenth century Britain saw remarkable economic growth and a rise in real wages. But not everyone shared in the nation’s wealth. Unable to earn a sufficient income themselves, working-class women were reliant on the ‘breadwinner wage’ of their husbands. When income failed, or was denied or squandered by errant men, families could be plunged into desperate poverty from which there was no escape.

Emma Griffin unlocks the homes of Victorian England to examine the lives – and finances – of the people who lived there. Drawing on over 600 working-class autobiographies, including more than 200 written by women, Bread Winner changes our understanding of daily life in Victorian Britain.

The book: https://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300230062

https://people.uea.ac.uk/e_griffin

Professor Griffin's homepage: https://people.uea.ac.uk/e_griffin

On Twitter: @EmmaGriffinHist

This podcast is a few audio chapters, read by Dr Alice Evans.

Poor slum-dwellers are FOUR times less likely to believe that they will get a response when directly approaching an official than poor rural villager.

So controlling for income, the slum dwellers are much more despondent about government - find Dr Gabi Kruks-Wisner (UVA) and Dr Adam Auerbach (American University).

This reflects differing observations and expectations in urban and rural places.

What rocked my priors is their argument that clientelism is not bad governance, it does not necessarily worsen outcomes. Perhaps it's just another mode of claims-making?

Read her full paper here: https://krukswisner.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/auerbach_kruks-wisner_pop_2020.pdf

If you'd like to hear more about "Claiming the State", check out my earlier podcast with Gabi.

In the podcast, Gabi highlights Dr Tariq Tachil's paper how ethnographic research can improve surveys: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12116-018-9272-3

We also discuss my paper on Cambodia, which you can read here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243219865510

Dr Gabi Kruks Wisner is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia: https://krukswisner.wordpress.com/ @gabi_kw

She co-wrote this paper with Dr Adam Auerbach at American University https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/aauerba.cfm @adam_m_auerbach

I read aloud my latest paper, "How Cities Erode Gender Inequality", published in Gender & Society: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891243219865510

This is an experiment! Kindly recorded by the Harvard Kennedy School. One take, in my *slightly* theatrical style.

Let me know what you think! :-)

Professor Sanchita Saxena shares insights on her new book on "Labor, Global Supply Chains, and the Garment Industry in South Asia".

Key questions:

- Why are garment wages so low in Bangladesh?

- Why aren't wages improving?

- What would enable higher wages?

Buy the book: https://www.routledge.com/Labor-Global-Supply-Chains-and-the-Garment-Industry-in-South-Asia-Bangladesh/Saxena/p/book/9781138366800

Learn more about Professor Saxena's work, at Berkeley: https://southasia.berkeley.edu/sanchita-saxena

Professor Kathryn Sikkink (at the Harvard Kennedy School) argues that human rights laws, institutions, and movements are both legitimate and effective.

We discuss whether human rights are western imperialism; whether rights movements help improve conditions for the masses; and what we still don't know about norm dynamics, but desperately need to find out!

You can buy the book here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691170626/evidence-for-hope

Professor Sikkink is the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, at the Harvard Kennedy School: https://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/people/kathryn-sikkink

Professor Daron Acemoglu discusses his new book, arguing that liberty and prosperity require strong states and strong societies.

Alice asks where do strong societies come from? What explains the global heterogeneity in social capital, as well as labour coercion? Can his theory accommodate East Asia? And whether the state-society binary is really the best way to understand threats to liberty today?

Professor Acemoglu is incredibly impressive. I do hope you enjoy this episode.

Buy the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555400/the-narrow-corridor-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a-robinson/

Read more about Professor Acemoglu's work: https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/acemoglu

Professor Branko Milanovic, world-leading expert on income inequality, discusses his fascinating new book. We discuss:

- Was communism necessary for indigenous capitalism?

- How can we tackle rising inequality?

- How to respond to the xenophobic backlash? &

- Isn't climate breakdown exacerbating global inequality.

For more details on the book: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674987593

For more about Professor Milanovic:

Website: https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/people/milanovic-branko/

Blog: http://glineq.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrankoMilan

Poor rural Indians come to expect and demand more of the state if they observe other people like them successfully mobilising for better services and public goods.

Through quantitative and qualitative research in Rajasthan, Dr Gabi Kruks-Wisner shows feedback loops in observations, expectations, and claims-making.

Read more about her work: https://krukswisner.wordpress.com/

Buy the book: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/claiming-state-active-citizenship-and-social-welfare-rural-india?format=PB&isbn=9781316649008#xFBr4rHJoOX5Yzxr.97

This chimes with "Fragmented Democracy" by Jamila Michener: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fragmented-democracy/9A69DF1567190EF38883D4766EBC0AAC

And "Forbearance as Redistribution" by Alisha Holland: http://alishaholland.com/book/

And "Making Motherhood Work" by Caitlyn Collins:

https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13324.html

All these new books demonstrate feedback loops, in people's observations, expectations, and demands of the state.