Feeding the Family: The Social Organization of Caring as Gendered WorkUniversity of Chicago Press, 1991 - 270 pages Housework—often trivialized or simply overlooked in public discourse—contributes in a complex and essential way to the form that families and societies assume. In this innovative study, Marjorie L. DeVault explores the implications of "feeding the family" from the perspective of those who do that work. Along the way, DeVault offers a new vocabulary for discussing nurturance as a basis of group life and sociability. Drawing from interviews conducted in 1982-83 in a diverse group of American households, DeVault reveals the effort and skill behind the "invisible" work of shopping, cooking, and serving meals. She then shows how this work can become oppressive for women, drawing them into social relations that construct and maintain their subordinate position in household life. |
Contents
Doing Family Meals | 35 |
Provisioning | 58 |
Constructing the Family | 77 |
Feeding as Womens Work | 95 |
5 | 120 |
Conflict and Deference | 138 |
Part Three Feeding Work and Social Class | 167 |
Common terms and phrases
activity AFDC agerial attention Barrie Thorne beef stroganoff caring Charles and Kerr choices cial concern construct context cooking couples cultural decisions described dinner discourse discussed division of labor domestic worker effort everyday example experience explained family meals family members feeding a family feel feminism feminist gender going Gourmet magazine Hispanic Hochschild household division household group household members household routine housework husband important income individuals informants interac interview Janice kind lives macaroni and cheese marriage married mean middle-class needs nutrition organization particular patterns planning poor practice prepare problems produce professional households professional/managerial refer relations reported responsibility rice-a-roni sense served share Sheila Allen shoppers single mother social sometimes specific spend strategies stuff suggests Susan tasks things tion traditional typically usually wives woman women talk working-class