Findings are presented from a study of 43 advanced professional school students in law and business using in-depth interviews to investigate their orientations to work and family life. Thematic types are developed that identify the orientations of segments within the sample. These types draw on respondents' implicit and explicit definitions of the situation, paying special attention to key assumptions about gender-based work and family roles. Interestingly, the findings indicate a certain degree of asymmetry between the men and the women with respect to how they plan to construct work and family life. The dominant segment of men identified strongly with a modified form of providing, whereas others identified with either a strong or a weak form of egalitarianism. The dominant segment of women were oriented toward a strong form of egalitarianism, with others oriented toward a weak form of egalitarianism, and still others considered remaining single a realistic possibility.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Andrews, A. , & Bailyn, L. (1993). Segmentation and synergy: Two models of linking work and family life. In J. Hood (Ed.), Men, work, and family (pp. 262-275). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
Barnett, R. , & Rivers, C. (1996). He works, she works. New York: Harper Collins.
3.
Becker, P. , & Moen, P. (1999). Scaling back: Dual-earner couples' work-family strategies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 995-1007.
4.
Bellah. R. , Madsen, R., Sullivan, W., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. (1985). Habits of the heart. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
5.
Bellah. R. , Madsen, R., Sullivan, W., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. (1991). The good society. New York: Knopf.
6.
Berger, P. , Berger, B., & Kellner, H.1973. The homeless mind: Modernization and consciousness. New York: Vintage.
7.
Bernard, J. (1981). The good provider role: Its rise and fall. American Psychologist, 36(1), 1-12.
8.
Bielby, W. , & Bielby, D. (1989). Family ties: Balancing commitments to work and family in dual-earner households. American Sociological Review, 54(5), 776-789.
9.
Cancian, F. (1987). Love in America: Gender and self-development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Cohen, T. (1993). What do fathers provide? Reconsidering economic and nurturant dimensions of men as parents. In J. Hood (Ed.), Men, work, and family (pp. 1-22). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
11.
Farnham, A. (1989, December 4). The trust gap. Fortune, pp. 56-76.
12.
Gerson, K. (1985). Hard choices: How women decide about work, career, and motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press.
13.
Gerson, K. (1993). No man's land: Men's changing commitments to family and work. New York: Basic Books.
14.
Han, S. K. , & Moen, P. (1999, March). Work and family over time: A life course approach. Annals of the American Academy of political and social science, 562, 98-110.
15.
Hertz, R. , & Ferguson, F. (1998). Only one pair of hands: Ways that single mothers stretch work and family resources. Community, Work, & Family, 1(1), 13-37.
16.
Hirsch, P. (1987). Pack your own parachute. New York: Addison-Wesley.
17.
Hochschild, A. (1989). The second shift. New York: Avon.
18.
Hochschild, A. (1997). The time bind: When work becomes home and home becomes work. New York: Metropolitan.
19.
Hood, J. (1986). The provider role: Its meaning and measurement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 349-359.
20.
Kanter, R. (1989). When giants learn to dance. New York: Simon & Schuster.
21.
Kanter, R. (1995). World class: Thriving locally in the global economy. New York: Simon & Schuster.
22.
Kotter, J. (1995). The new rules: How to succeed in today's post-corporate world. New York: Free Press.
23.
Lamont, M. (1992). Money, morals, and manners: The culture of the French and American upper-middle class. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
24.
LaRossa, R. (1988). Fatherhood and social change. Family Relations, 37, 451-457.
25.
Lasch, C. (1978). The culture of narcissism: American life in an age of diminished expectations. New York: Norton.
26.
Lewis, O. (1963). Children of Sanchez. New York: Random House.
27.
MacIver, R. (1942). Social causation. New York: Harper Torchbooks.
28.
Maines, D. , & Hardesty, M. (1987). Temporality and gender: Young adults career and family plans. Social Forces, 66, 102-120.
29.
Mead, G. (1932). The philosophy of the present. Chicago: Open Court.
30.
Moen, P. (1992). Women's two roles: A contemporary dilemma. New York: Auburn House.
31.
Moen, P. , & Wethington, E. (1992). The concept of family adaptive strategies. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 233-251.
32.
Morris, B. (1997, March 17). Is your family wrecking your career? (and vice versa). Fortune, pp. 71-90.
33.
Pleck, J. (1983). Husband's paid work and family roles: Current research issues. In H. Lopata & J. Pleck (Eds.), Research into the interweave of social roles: Families and jobs (Vol. 3, pp. 251-333). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
34.
Pleck, J. (1993). Are “family-supportive” employer policies relevant to men? In J. C. Hood (Ed.) Men, work, and family (pp. 217-237). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
35.
Rubin, L. (1976). Worlds of pain. New York: Basic Books.
36.
Schwartz, P. (1994). Peer marriage: How love between equals really works. New York: Free Press.
37.
Shapiro, L. (1997, May 12). The myth of quality time. Newsweek, pp. 62-69.
38.
Shelton, B. , & John, D. (1996). The division of household labor. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 299-322.
39.
Spain, D. , & Bianchi, S. (1996). Balancing act. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
40.
Stack, C. (1974). All our kin. New York: Harper & Row.
41.
Thomas, W. (1970). The definition of the situation. In L. Coser & B. Rosenberg (Eds.), Sociological theory: A book of readings. London: Macmillan.
42.
Wallace, P. (1989). MBAs on the fast track: Career mobility of young managers. New York: Ballinger.
43.
Williams, N. (1990). The Mexican American family: Tradition and change. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall.
44.
Wolfe, A. (1998). One nation after all. New York: Viking.
45.
Yankelovich, D. (1981). New rules. New York: Random House.
