abstract: 'Sociological explanations of inequality are incomplete unless they fully

  recognize the importance of social policy regimes, the policy logics

  embedded within them, and how policy arrangements work to stratify and

  shape daily lives. In this address, I develop my arguments by examining

  two overlapping struggles of everyday life in the contemporary United

  States: balancing work and family on the one hand, and securing

  health-care services, both formal medical care and informal family care,

  on the other. Both struggles involve care deficits that are

  significantly more serious in the United States than in other

  high-income countries, in part because our policy regime contributes to

  rather than counters the gendered roots of workfamily conflict.

  Comparative studies hold a key to better understanding the link between

  policy regimes and everyday lives, as illustrated by the author''s own

  comparative research in Finland and in the United States In terms of

  policies and policy logics that promote gender equity, paid parental

  leave for fathers has received much recent attention from social science

  scholars. Sociologists are challenged to become aware of comparative

  social policy scholarship and to approach inequalities and the related

  daily conflicts and strugglessuch as over care deficitsby including this

  work in their analyses.'
affiliation: 'Zimmerman, MK (Corresponding Author), Univ Kansas, Med Ctr, Dept Hlth
  Policy \& Management, MS3044,3901 Rainbow Blvd, Kansas City, KS 66160 USA.

  Univ Kansas, Med Ctr, Dept Hlth Policy \& Management, Kansas City, KS 66160 USA.'
author: Zimmerman, Mary K.
author-email: mzimmerman@kumc.edu
author_list:
- family: Zimmerman
  given: Mary K.
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1111/tsq.12003
files: []
issn: 0038-0253
journal: SOCIOLOGICAL QUARTERLY
language: English
month: WIN
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '40'
pages: 66-80
papis_id: a64d1e1f0ecb6128124af081087a126d
ref: Zimmerman2013theorizinginequality
times-cited: '5'
title: 'Theorizing Inequality: Comparative Policy Regimes, Gender, and Everyday Lives'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000312559400006
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '192'
volume: '54'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2013'