Abstract
Utilizing three typologies that emerged from the data, we examine how 30 working-class cohabiting couples construct gender
through paid and domestic labor. Contesting couples contain at least one partner, usually the woman, who attempts to construct
more egalitarian arrangements. In Conventional and Counter-Conventional couples, neither partner is actively contesting their
gendered arrangements. Among Conventional couples each partner adheres to a traditional division of labor. Normative gender
arrangements are upended in Contesting and Counter-Conventional couples when the female partner resists financial dependence
on her male partner or if or the male partner does not earn enough income to provide even for himself. Nevertheless, institutionalized
gender roles appear deeply entrenched among the working-class cohabitors in this study.
through paid and domestic labor. Contesting couples contain at least one partner, usually the woman, who attempts to construct
more egalitarian arrangements. In Conventional and Counter-Conventional couples, neither partner is actively contesting their
gendered arrangements. Among Conventional couples each partner adheres to a traditional division of labor. Normative gender
arrangements are upended in Contesting and Counter-Conventional couples when the female partner resists financial dependence
on her male partner or if or the male partner does not earn enough income to provide even for himself. Nevertheless, institutionalized
gender roles appear deeply entrenched among the working-class cohabitors in this study.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-20
- DOI 10.1007/s11133-012-9234-4
- Authors
- Amanda Jayne Miller, Department of Social Sciences, University of Indianapolis, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46227-3697, USA
- Sharon Sassler, Department of Policy Analysis & Management, Cornell University, 297 MVR Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
- Journal Qualitative Sociology
- Online ISSN 1573-7837
- Print ISSN 0162-0436