Cottons and Casuals explores the connections between women's work in different spheres since the 1930s: paid employment, at home, and in the community. Women's own testimony and an array of other source materials are used to develop new ways of looking at their changing patterns of living and working.

The book examines changes in the organisation and commodification of domestic production and consumption, the use of technology, housing, family structures, gender relations and inter-generational mother-daughter relations. Differing temporalities of work are highlighted, as are their far-reaching effects for the organisation of peoples' lives and life courses.

The significance of varying locations and spatial organisations of work for communities, streets, families and gender relations provides another important focus. In the process, Glucksmann addresses the nature of the research process, reflecting on her sources and her own work in the production of knowledge