Differentiating Careers from Jobs in the Search for Dual-Career Couples

Abstract

Members of social categories with multifaceted definitions are often sampled using only one or two characteristics, generating theoretical and methodological problems. Here, the author examines the case of “dual-career” couples. The author tests how closely respondents' and scholars' distinctions between careers versus jobs correspond and how well selected definition models capture career-oriented couples. Members of fifty-one married couples self-identify as having a job or career and then explain how they differentiate those concepts. Respondents' rationales correspond well to scholarly definitions, focusing primarily on time and emotional investments, and less on advancement or income. Work orientation generally varies, as predicted, by education and work characteristics, although many people presumed to be career-oriented report having jobs (e.g., professional women), and vice versa (e.g., part-time workers). Systematic tests of definition models suggest that many sampling approaches used in dual-career couple studies either omit many career-oriented respondents or include many who are job-oriented. Sampling strategies are discussed.