ABSTRACT
Contemporary moral posturing around the changing family throws little light on why the traditional family is changing. It neglects to take into account the major transformations in the patterns and forms of employment in recent years, with the decline of respectable working-class male employment in manufacturing and the rise of the service sector, where employers find it more profitable to employ women part-time workers. The growth of flexible, part-time work using new technology has replaced the older manual jobs in a growing service-based economy. In real terms young working-class men have lost ground in the past decade and some face permanent unemployment.
