ERIC Number: ED247193
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1984-Jun
Pages: 20
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Working Class Gender Relationships and Leisure in the United States, 1890-1920.
Peiss, Kathy
Recent studies of the history of working-class leisure have rested on the conceptualization of leisure as both public and male. A study of the living conditions, recreational activities, and family budgets of white working-class New Yorkers between 1880 and 1920 suggests broad ways in which working women's leisure activities contributed to a definition of working class culture. For both married and single women, working-class forms of leisure held a different meaning than they did for men. Although involved in varying degrees of the network of working-class institutions, employed women did not find the same levels of social, psychological, or economic support in their recreation as did their male counterparts. While working class men had their after-work time free to spend in saloons, fraternal organizations, and political clubs, working women's after-work time was constrained by the demands of household chores. While the male breadwinner was allowed a certain share of the family income for his own personal use, the female worker was not allowed the same privilege and thus was further limited in her leisure activities. As a result of these two factors, working women's leisure activities tended to be based in the household, family, and kinship ties. (LP)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A