Originally published in 1978 Working Couples deals with husbands and wives who both hold paid jobs. The editors, the late Robert N. and Rhona Rapoport, had established themselves as well-respected authorities on dual-career families, and in this study they call upon other specialists in the field to apply their research experience to the consideration of the particular problems confronting working couples at the time. They discuss how some of these issues had arisen and analyse how they were being dealt with in a number of contexts.
Working couples at the time were subject to constraints of various kinds in meeting the challenges they faced, and there were many who rejected the lifestyle on these grounds; but there were many others for whom it worked. Numerous families were attempting to operate the pattern in new ways. Both may have separate jobs, and her income may not only be separate from his, but in some cases larger and more reliable. Such a situation creates its own problems, which need to be resolved. The authors look at and clarify some of the generic issues and discover which resolutions have been satisfactory, as well as the various devices created for helping dual-worker families to function.