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Haven in a Heartless World
01 Jan 1977-
About: The article was published on 1977-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 323 citations till now.
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TL;DR: This paper defined commensuration as the comparison of different entities according to a common metric, and discussed the cognitive and political stakes inherent in calling something incommensurable, and provided a framework for future empirical study of commensure and demonstrate how this analytic focus can inform established fields of sociological inquiry.
Abstract: Although it is evident in routine decision-making and a crucial vehicle of rationalization, commensuration as a general social process has been given little consideration by sociologists. This article defines commensuration as the comparison of different entities according to a common metric, notes commensuration's long history as an instrument of social thought, analyzes commensuration as a mode of power, and discusses the cognitive and political stakes inherent in calling something incommensurable. We provide a framework for future empirical study of commensuration and demonstrate how this analytic focus can inform established fields of sociological inquiry.
1,368 citations
Cites background from "Haven in a Heartless World"
...…of family (see Stacey 1990:3-19) is the belief that family relations are of a fundamentally different character than those of the marketplace: Families are havens partly because relations among family members are governed by something more than self-interested individual calculation (Lasch 1977)....
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TL;DR: The concept of social care serves to shift the centre of analysis from specific policy domains so that instead of focusing on cash benefits or services in isolation it becomes possible to consider them as part of a broader set of inter-relating elements.
Abstract: Care is now a widely-used concept in welfare state research, firmly established in the literature by feminist analysis. We believe that the concept as it has been used and developed to date has limitations that have hampered its development as a general category of welfare state analysis. In essence we argue that the political economy aspects of the concept have remained underdeveloped. The main purpose of this article is to elaborate a care-centred concept – which we name social care – that countenances and develops care as an activity and set of relations lying at the intersection of state, market and family (and voluntary sector) relations. We are especially concerned to examine what the concept of social care can tell us about welfare state variation and welfare state change and development. The article works systematically through these themes, beginning with a brief historical sketch of the concept of care and then moving on to elaborate the analytic potential of the concept of social care. In the latter regard we make the case that it can lead to a more encompassing analysis, helping to overcome especially the fragmentation in existing scholarship between the cash and service dimensions of the welfare state and the relative neglect of the latter. The concept of social care serves to shift the centre of analysis from specific policy domains so that instead of focusing on cash benefits or services in isolation it becomes possible to consider them as part of a broader set of inter-relating elements. In this and other regards, the concept has the potential to say something new about welfare states.
817 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that there is a movement away from identifying core sites of meaning, towards a context-sensitive focus on the experience and use of home and argue that sociological discussions have tended to ignore the experiential significance of home.
483 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it has been claimed that a particular form of intimacy, "the pure relationship" is increasingly sought in personal life, which involves opening out to each other, enjoying each other's unique qualities and sustaining trust through mutual disclosure.
Abstract: It has recently been claimed that a particular form of intimacy, 'the pure relationship' is increasingly sought in personal life. For a couple, 'the pure relationship' involves opening out to each other, enjoying each other's unique qualities and sustaining trust through mutual disclosure. Anthony Giddens (1992) postulates a transformation of intimacy in all personal relationships with radical consequences for the gender order. Popular discourse supports the view that heterosexual couples are more equal and intimate. However, stories of everyday lives told to researchers paint a very qualified picture. Much of personal life remains structured by inequalities. Gendered struggles with the gap between cultural ideals and structural inequalities result in a range of creative identity and relationship- saving strategies. More, perhaps much more, creative energy goes into sustaining a sense of intimacy despite inequality than into a process of transformation. Moreover, the rhetoric of 'the pure relationship' may point people in the wrong direction both personally and politically. It feeds on and into a therapeutic discourse that individualises personal problems and down-grades sociological explanations. In practice, intimacy remains multi-dimensional and for the contenders for successful heterosexual equality, acts of practical love and care have been more important than a constant dynamic of mutual exploration of each other's selves.
479 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore work-family relations from the perspective of the emotion management performed by participants in both spheres, considering how work and family roles vary in the types and degrees of emotion management they require.
Abstract: This article explores work-family relations from the perspective of the emotion management performed by participants in both spheres. We extend previous discussions of emotion management by considering how work and family roles vary in the types and degrees of emotion management they require. We then explore the implications of this conception of work-family role variations in type and degree of emotion management for women's and men's work-family relations, paying particular attention to gender differences in work-family conflict and work-family role overload. The framework developed here highlights the need to examine variability in the emotion-management requirements of social roles, and it calls for attention to workers' multiple role involvements in studies of emotion management and their effects on individuals.
441 citations