The majority of men in demanding jobs have wives who stay home and bring up children...The longer hours a man works, the more likely he is to have children, and the more children he is likely to have. It’s still ideologically important for a man to be seen to provide for a family.
litlove, Tales from the Reading Room
It is too true. Also bloody depressing; at least I find it so. The locution "to be seen" that litlove uses is perfect; my series of posts last year on "signaling" was getting at the same thing, with a nod back at the great Thorstein Veblen.
litlove's whole post is worth reading.
Come to think of it, there was an article in Details a number of months ago, before the worst of the downturn, about how hedge fund guys were getting into the large family thing, because they could. Anecdotal, of course, but still.
Breakfast is being served
3 years ago