Upcoming Events

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 4:00 p.m. in Stauffer-Flint Hall, Room 100

Holding It Together shows how women's unpaid and underpaid labor maintains the illusion of a "DIY society"—one in which people are expected to take care of themselves rather than relying on the government for support. Drawing on more than 400 hours of interviews, along with surveys of more than 4,000 families across the US, plus historical and media analyses, Calarco reveals how Americans have been forced to DIY society, what this DIY model costs us, and why more Americans aren't demanding a stronger social safety, despite the harm the DIY model has caused.

Dr. Jessica Calarco is a Sociologist and Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of Holding it Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net (Portfolio/Penguin, 2024). Her award-winning research examines the intersections of policy, privilege, and power, with a focus on education and family life.

Her previous books include Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research (with Mario Small; University of California Press, 2022), Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School (Oxford University Press, 2018), and A Field Guide to Grad School: Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum (Princeton University Press, 2020). 

Jessica has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and CNN. She also writes the Hidden Curriculum newsletter and is a mom of two young kids. 

bio credit: jessicacalarco.com