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Feeding the Family

The Social Organization of Caring as Gendered Work

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.

284 pages | 3 tables, 1 figure. | 6 x 9 | © 1991

Women in Culture and Society

Gender and Sexuality

Sociology: Sociology--Marriage and Family

Women's Studies

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: The Work of "Feeding a Family"
1. Doing Family Meals
2. Provisioning
3. Constructing the Family
Part Two: Organization of the Work
4. Feeding as "Women’s Work"
5. Never Done
6. Conflict and Deference
Part Three: Feeding Work and Social Class
7. Affluence and Poverty
8. The Significance of Style
Conclusion
Appendix: Profiles of Named Informants
References
Index

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