Book•
The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood
28 Aug 1996-
TL;DR: Hays as discussed by the authors argues that women are expected to be nurturing and unselfish in their role as mothers, while men are judged to be competitive and even ruthless at work, and these unrealistic expectations of mothers reflect a deep cultural ambivalence about the pursuit of self-interest.
Abstract: "Hays's intellectually incendiary Cultural Contradictions could add needed nuance to feminist thought-and perhaps ignite change in mothersi overburdened lives."-Phyllis Eckhaus, The Nation "A lucid, probing examination of our culture's contradictory and troubled relationship to motherhood-and how it affects mothers. . . . A thoughtful analysis of the paradoxes that surround mothering. Hays is sensitive to the emotional issues involved-and equally astute in perceiving their sociopolitical context."-Kirkus Reviews "A thoughtful and carefully written new book that provides excellent material for family demography or women's studies courses at the graduate level."-Sandra L. Hofferth, American Journal of Sociology An ideology of 'intensive mothering' exacerbates the inevitable tensions working mothers face, claims sociologist Sharon Hays. While women are expected to be nurturing and unselfish in their role as mothers, they are expected to be competitive and even ruthless at work. Drawing on ideas about mothering since the Middle Ages, on contemporary childrearing manuals, and on in-depth interviews, Hays shows that 'intensive mothering' is a powerful contemporary ideology. These unrealistic expectations of mothers, she suggests, reflect a deep cultural ambivalence about the pursuit of self-interest.
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TL;DR: This article found that mothers were penalized on a host of measures, including perceived competence and recommended starting salary, while men were not penalized for, and sometimes benefited from, being a parent.
Abstract: Survey research finds that mothers suffer a substantial wage penalty, although the causal mechanism producing it remains elusive. The authors employed a laboratory experiment to evaluate the hypothesis that status-based discrimination plays an important role and an audit study of actual employers to assess its real-world implications. In both studies, participants evaluated application materials for a pair of same-gender equally qualified job candidates who differed on parental status. The laboratory experiment found that mothers were penalized on a host of measures, including perceived competence and recommended starting salary. Men were not penalized for, and sometimes benefited from, being a parent. The audit study showed that actual employers discriminate against mothers, but not against fathers.
1,727 citations
TL;DR: More than 200 articles and books on household labor published between 1989 and 1999 have been reviewed in this article, showing that women have reduced and men have increased slightly their hourly contributions to housework.
Abstract: This article reviews more than 200 scholarly articles and books on household labor published between 1989 and 1999. As a maturing area of study, this body of research has been concerned with understanding and documenting how housework is embedded in complex and shifting social processes relating to the well-being of families, the construction of gender, and the reproduction of society. Major theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to the study of household labor are summarized, and suggestions for further research are offered. In summary, women have reduced and men have increased slightly their hourly contributions to housework. Although men's relative contributions have increased, women still do at least twice as much routine housework as men. Consistent predictors of sharing include both women's and men's employment, earnings, gender ideology, and life-course issues. More balanced divisions of housework are associated with women perceiving fairness, experiencing less depression, and enjoying higher marital satisfaction.
1,604 citations
Cites background from "The Cultural Contradictions of Moth..."
...Liberal and feminist versions suggest that power, inequality, and love are uniquely intertwined within the household economy, religion, and the general culture (Hays, 1996; Sanchez, 1996; Thompson, 1993)....
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...Analyses of the emergence of separate spheres and an ideology of intensive mothering are particularly enlightening (Hays, 1996; Jackson, 1992; Siegel, 1998), as are studies of how immigrants and women of color have performed domestic labor (Glenn, 1992; Palmer, 1989; Romero, 1992)....
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...The gender division of household labor is typically attributed to men's reluctance to assume responsibility, but some studies also discuss women's reluctance to relinquish control over family work (Allen & Hawkins, 1999; Ferree, 1991; Haas, 1992; Hawkins & Roberts, 1992; Hays, 1996)....
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...Married women are still expected to manage home and family (Coltrane, 1996; Ferree, 1991; Hays, 1996; Mederer, 1993), and wives spend two or three times as many hours on housework as their husbands (Demo & Acock, 1993; Hersch & Stratton, 1997; Presser, 1994)....
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...…projects illuminated how family life, gender, and household labor are intertwined and mutually produced (e.g., Coltrane, 1996; Doucet, 1995; Gager, 1998; Gerson, 1993; Hays, 1996; Potuchek, 1992; Ribbens & Edwards, 1995; Risman & Johnson-Sumerford, 1998; Wharton, 1994; Zvonkovic et al., 1996)....
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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 "The Cultural Contradictions of Moth..."
...But some mothers who embrace traditional roles, or who sacrifice careers and income to stay home with their children, sniff at the self-serving aroma of "quality time" (Hays 1996, Berger 1995:43-44)....
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TL;DR: The authors assess how the concept of cultural capital has been imported into the English language, focusing on educational research and demonstrate that neither of these premises is essential to Bourdieu's understanding of culture.
Abstract: In this article, we assess how the concept of cultural capital has been imported into the English language, focusing on educational research. We argue that a dominant interpretation of cultural capital has coalesced with two central premises. First, cultural capital denotes knowledge of or facility with “highbrow” aesthetic culture. Secondly, cultural capital is analytically and causally distinct from other important forms of knowledge or competence (termed “technical skills,” “human capital,” etc.). We then review Bourdieu’s educational writings to demonstrate that neither of these premises is essential to his understanding of cultural capital. In the third section, we discuss a set of English-language studies that draw on the concept of cultural capital, but eschew the dominant interpretation. These serve as the point of departure for an alternative definition. Our definition emphasizes Bourdieu’s reference to the capacity of a social class to “impose” advantageous standards of evaluation on the educational institution. We discuss the empirical requirements that adherence to such a definition entails for researchers, and provide a brief illustration of the intersection of institutionalized evaluative standards and the educational practices of families belonging to different social classes. Using ethnographic data from a study of social class differences in family-school relationships, we show how an African-American middle-class family exhibits cultural capital in a way that an African-American family below the poverty level does not.
1,171 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that middle-class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement from their family life, while working-class and poor children did not display the same feelings of entitlement or advantages.
Abstract: Although family life has an important impact on children’s life chances, the mechanisms through which parents transmit advantages are imperfectly understood. An ethnographic data set of white children and black children approximately 10 years old shows the effects of social class on interactions inside the home. Middle-class parents engage in concerted cultivation by attempting to foster children’s talents through organized leisure activities and extensive reasoning. Working-class and poor parents engage in the accomplishment of natural growth, providing the conditions under which children can grow but leaving leisure activities to children themselves. These parents also use directives rather than reasoning. Middle-class children, both white and black, gain an emerging sense of entitlement from their family life. Race had much less impact than social class. Also, differences in a cultural logic of childrearing gave parents and their children differential resources to draw on in their interactions with professionals and other adults outside the home. Middle-class children gained individually insignificant but cumulatively important advantages. Working-class and poor children did not display the same sense of entitlement or advantages. Some areas of family life appeared exempt from the effects of social class, however.
1,106 citations