KU Sociology presents the 2025 Clark Lecture: "Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net" presented by Dr. Jessica Calarco, professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tuesday, October 7, 4:00 p.m., in Stauffer-Flint 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.