If the truth were told, this volume and its direct antecedents must rank among the most ambitious, if not simply pretentious, endeavors imag inable, at least in the social sciences. The titles of the volume and the chapters, promising to integrate the experiences of the sense of justice and the affectional bonding of people in close relations, seem straightforward and reasonable enough. What they fail to convey, however, is the simple bald fact that we in the human social sciences have no firm grasp on either of these two fundamental experiences-what we sometimes call "love" and "justice. " To begin with, even as "scientists" committed to under standing based upon systematic propositions linking publicly observable concepts, we have no clear consensus concerning the nature of the affec tional bonds linking people in close relationships-love, intimacy, caring, mutual responsiveness, or the sense of justice, fairness, deserving, and in our efforts to under entitlement. And we are continually handicapped stand these complex, moving experiences by the persistent tendency to reduce them to manifestations of, "nothing but," familiar psychological or even biological processes-"secondary rewards," "selfish genes. " So, why then this volume? Although there are many answers to the question, probably the most germane is that the basic issues are so im portant and intriguing that the recent past has seen rather dramatic paral lel growth in social scientists' interest in these two areas-justice and close relationships.

Klappentext

This insightful volume offers a variety of approaches to the issue of entitlement influences in close relationships. Describing relationships in different international settings, contributors discuss gender differences in children's household duties in Scotland; sharing household duties among American husbands and wives; emotional factors involved in German parents' adjustment to the birth of their first child emand much more/em. Papers also discuss various theoretical models and analytical assumptions.

Inhalt
1 Justice in Close Relationships: An Introduction.- 2 Equity and Balance in the Exchange of Contributions in Close Relationships.- 3 Entitlements in Close Relationships: A Justice-Motive Analysis.- 4 Resource Allocation in Intimate Relationships: Trying to Make Sense of a Confusing Literature.- 5 Social Comparison and Social Exchange in Marital Relationships.- 6 Entitlement in Romantic Relationships in the United States: A Social-Exchange Perspective.- 7 Paradoxical Effects of Closeness in Relationships on Perceptions of Justice: An Interdependence-Theory Perspective.- 8 Perspective-Related Differences in Interpretations of Injustice by Victims and Victimizers: A Test with Close Relationships.- 9 Problems with the Transition to Parenthood: Perceived Responsibility for Restrictions and Losses and the Experience of Injustice.- 10 Equality and Entitlement in Marriage: Benefits and Barriers.- 11 Changing Sex-Role Expectations and Men's Concerns with Justice in the Home.- 12 Economic Roles in the Household System: Young People's Experiences and Expectations.- 13 Family Work in Modern Japan: The Reproduction of Sons and Mothers.- 14 Entitlement and the Affectional Bond: Reflections and Conclusions.- Author Index.