Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Acta Sociologica
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by de Ruijter, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Trends in the Outsourcing of Domestic Work and Childcare in the Netherlands

Compositional or Behavioral Change?

Esther de Ruijter

Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Changes in the composition of households-especially the growing number of dual earners and singles-are often assumed to be associated with an increase in domestic outsourcing. In this article, trends in the outsourcing of household tasks (employing a domestic help and eating out) and the use of child daycare are analyzed with Dutch data (TBO 1980-2000, AVO 1983-1999). As it turns out, the observed increase over the past few decades in the outsourcing of household tasks can be explained by compositional changes. The supply of outsourcing services has not always grown accordingly. Trends in outsourcing are more than the total sum of individual demand factors. An example is the use of domestic help, which shows a net decrease. Our findings suggest that own domestic production has become more efficient, which has led to a reduction in the demand for outsourcing. The increase in the use of daycare for children can be explained as a general behavioral change, indicative of a shift in societal values concerning childcare. Parents are more inclined to hire childcare, irrespective of their personal characteristics. No systematic evidence was found for micro-level behavioral changes in outsourcing.

Key Words: behavioral change • compositional change • domestic outsourcing trends

Acta Sociologica, Vol. 47, No. 3, 219-234 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0001699304046247
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of Family IssuesHome page
E. de Ruijter and T. van der Lippe
Getting Outside Help: How Trust Problems Explain Household Differences in Domestic Outsourcing in the Netherlands
Journal of Family Issues, January 1, 2009; 30(1): 3 - 27.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Rationality and SocietyHome page
J. Treas
The Dilemma of Gender Specialization: Substituting and Augmenting Wives' Household Work
Rationality and Society, August 1, 2008; 20(3): 259 - 282.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Work and OccupationsHome page
E. De Ruijter and T. Van der Lippe
Effects of Job Features on Domestic Outsourcing as a Strategy for Combining Paid and Domestic Work
Work and Occupations, May 1, 2007; 34(2): 205 - 230.
[Abstract] [PDF]