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562 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (1999)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0562 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE

It has taken two decades of constant effort, but pundits, researchers, work-
place practitioners, and vocal advocates have successfully brought work-
family issues to the attention of corporate decision makers, academics, public
sector leaders, and, indeed, the public at large. The millennium promises to be
an anniversary of sorts for the work-family field. In the beginning of the
1980s, the relevance of work-family issues was apparent only to a relatively
small cadre of individuals. At that time, the number of work-family research-
ers could have comfortably gathered together at a modest conference. Twenty
years ago, only a few corporations went public with their work-family policies
and programs.
During the past two decades, as researchers have documented the revolu-
tionary shifts that have occurred within families and at places of business,
the number of academics and corporate practitioners who have devoted their
life's work to these important social issues has mushroomed. Today, work-life
initiatives are often considered to be at the core of Fortune 100 companies' ef-
forts to be an employer of choice. The work-family lexicon is no longer a for-
eign language; rather, work-family concepts and terms have become common
parlance at the workplace and at home. It is now clear to many that work and
family issues are some of the more visible manifestations of a significant
transformation of the social and economic spheres of our lives. The compel-
ling nature of work and family issues is indicated by the continued media at-
tention to changes in our work and family lives. Indeed, the imminent century
marker can be seen as a time to celebrate the accomplishments made in the
work-family arena.
The research literature has reflected, chronicled, and pushed forward the
growth of the work-family field. Our own first work-family research was con-
ducted in the early 1980s, a time when there were only a limited number of
studies about these issues. Now, literally hundreds of researchers publish ar-
ticles and reports each year, as documented in a recent volume of annotated
references to research literature compiled by Lilly, Pitt-Catsouphes, and
Googins (1997). Articles about work-family issues routinely appear in jour-
nals in a range of disciplines, and new journals, such as Community, Work and
Family, have emerged.
However, as we are getting ready to face the twenty-first century, many
work-family leaders are challenging one another to be more articulate about
their visions, to be bolder about their hopes, and to more actively encourage
meaningful dialogue about the diverse work and family experiences that are
encountered every day by working families all over the globe. A number of im-
portant, fundamental questions have been raised:

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