Professional Work and Marriage: An East-West Comparison PDF
Preview Professional Work and Marriage: An East-West Comparison
PROFESSIONAL WORK AND MARRIAGE An East-West Comparison Sf Antony's/Macmillan Series General editor: Archie Brown, Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford This new series contains academic books written or edited by members of St Antony's College, Oxford, or by authors with a special association with the College. The titles are selected by an editorial board on which both the College and the publishers are represented. Titles already published or in the press are listed below, and there are numerous further titles in preparation. S. B. Burman CHIEFDOM POLITICS AND ALIEN LAW Wilhelm Deist THE WEHRMACHT AND GERMAN REARMAMENT Ricardo Ffrench-Davis and LATIN AMERICA AND THE NEW Ernesto Tironi (editors) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER Richard Holt SPORT AND SOCIETY IN MODERN FRANCE Albert Hourani EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST: THE EMERGENCE OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST Paul Kennedy and Anthony NATIONALIST AND RACIALIST Nicholls (editors) MOVEMENTS IN BRITAIN AND GERMANY BEFORE 1914 Richard Kindersley (editor) IN SEARCH OF EUROCOMMUNISM Gisela C. Lebzelter POLITICAL ANTI-SEMITISM IN ENGLAND, 1918-1939 C. A. MacDonald THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN AND APPEASEMENT,1936-1939 Marilyn Rueschemeyer PROFESSIONAL WORK AND MARRIAGE: AN EAST -WEST COMPARISON David Stafford BRITAIN AND EUROPEAN RESISTANCE, 1940-1945 Rosemary Thorp and INFLATION AND STABILISATION IN Laurence Whitehead LATIN AMERICA (editors) Rudolf L. Tokes (editor) OPPOSITION IN EASTERN EUROPE PROFESSIONAL WORK AND MARRIAGE An East-West Comparison Marilyn Rueschemeyer St Antony's © Marilyn Rueschemeyer 1981 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1981 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-1-349-16604-6 ISBN 978-1-349-16602-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16602-2 For Julia and Simone, with love and hope Contents Acknowledgements Xl I THE PROBLEM STATED: AMBITIONS AND WORK PRESSURES, THEIR ORIGINS AND CONSEQUENCES IN CAPITALIST AND SOCIALIST SOCIETIES Professional work and the development of ambition in the United States 6 The effects of work pressures and ambitions on per- sonal life in the United States 8 The comparison with Eastern European socialist societies 10 Work in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic 13 2 'NO, MY WIFE DOESN'T WORK - SHE'S A HOUSEWIFE': AMERICAN SINGLE-CAREER FAMILIES 23 Introduction 23 The work situation 26 Sources of tensions at work 28 Background of the professionals 35 The schooling of American professional men 38 Effects of tensions of family relations: the wives' perspective 41 Effects of tensions on family relations: the male professionals' perspective 48 The effects of work pressures and tensions on friendships 59 Conclusion 61 Appendix: Notes on interviewing 64 Interview guide 68 vii viii CONTENTS 3 'I AM A PROFESSIONAL, TOO': AMERICAN DUAL-CAREER FAMILIES 71 Introduction 71 Family background and the roots of occupational aspiration 72 The school experiences of men and women in dual- career families 78 The original 'contract' 81 The situation at work 85 The over-scheduled family 88 The effects of work on the marital relationship 90 The effects of work pressures on friendships 105 Conclusion 108 Appendix: Notes on interviewing 111 4 DOES SOCIALISM MAKE A DIFFERENCE? DUAL-CAREER FAMILIES IN THE SOVIET UNION AND THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 112 Introduction 112 Occupational origins of the respondents 116 Education in the Soviet Union and in the German Democratic Republic 119 Supports in socialist countries for working men and women 128 Role conceptions of professional men and women 135 The world of work 138 The effects of work pressures on personal relationships 147 Appendix: Notes on the Eastern European interviews 165 5 CONCLUSION: PROFESSIONAL WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE IN CAPITALIST AND SOCIALIST SOCIETIES 170 Notes 180 Bibliography 184 Index 191 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Gordon Fellman, Kristine Rosenthal, Charlotte Weissberg and George Ross for their advice and strong encouragement throughout this research. I also thank Kurt Wolff, who wrote on my behalf to a friend in the German Democratic Republic, and Janet Giele, Peter Evans, Josef Gugler, Ann Seidman and Richard Quinney, who made very helpful comments on the manuscript. Archie Brown's suggestions for the Eastern European sections of the manuscript were of great value; for his kindness as well as the warm hospitality of all my colleagues at St Antony's College, Oxford, I am indeed grateful. My husband, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, shared my excitement, ideas and worries about this project from its beginning and continued to be involved and encouraging despite his own professional commitments. Without his support and without the patience and practical help of our daughters, Julia and Simone, I would have never completed this project. Finally, during this research I met men and women who not only answered my questions but tried to share a part of their lives, their ideas, their dreams of a good society with me. I will never forget them. Providence, Rhode Island MARIL YN RUESCHEMEYER ix 1 The problem stated: Ambitions and work pressures, their origins and consequences in Capitalist and Socialist Societies Strains within the family, tensions and problems between husbands and wives as well as between parents and children are a recurrent theme in private conversations, journals of opinion and the lecture circuit. There is a sense that the roles of men and women are undergoing a profound change and that life in the family is becoming increasingly difficult. Yet our understanding of these issues is very limited. Many realize that the individualistic formula of common wisdom, 'it all depends on the people involved', is not sufficient. However, public debates which go beyond such simplistic commentary often focus narrowly on the family as it is presently structured. The question then becomes: what precisely is wrong with the contemporary family? The more conservative answers urge a return to and a revitalization of the inherited forms of marriage and family life. Thus, the 'Total Woman' (Morgan, 1976) is to recreate a loving family and a romantic marriage by submitting herself to the needs of her husband, by organizing her work at home so that it does not overwhelm her and by trying to introduce variety and surprise into her personal and erotic style in order to keep her husband's interest when he returns from work. Increasing numbers, especially of educated women, are sym pathetic to the feminist argument that it is the very role of the woman in the family as it is presently structured that is at the heart of her difficulties, and ultimately of the difficulties of her husband and children as well. The woman - and her family - would be far better off if she were able to turn some of her energies and interests elsewhere, in particular to the work place where she could directly 1
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