He earned A.B., A.M and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Chicago, where he was influenced by the Symbolic Interactionist ideas of George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley.
That influence contributed to shaping the research study that resulted in the book Family Worlds[2] (1959) by Hess & Handel.
It presents the unedited text of life-history interviews he conducted with a construction worker, and an analytic framework that seeks to broaden understanding of the life course.
The concepts and the socio-political conflicts over them are examined historically, The concluding chapter discusses enduring issues in social welfare.
[9] Handel's collaborative work includes Children and Society (2005),[10] The Apple Sliced: Sociological Studies of New York City (1984),[11] Qualitative Methods in Family Research (1992),[12] and Workingman’s Wife (1959).