Class,housework, and happiness: Women's work and life satisfaction

Large-sample surveys often fail to find a difference in self-reported satisfaction between housewives and employed women. Several explanations that have been offered for this failure are explored here in greater detail. The suggestion that the ease of housewives' lives is experienced as a benefit compensating for fewer satisfactions in other areas is rejected; greater time pressure is associated with greater satisfaction for housewives. The suggestion that working-class women are happier at home, while middle-class women prefer careers is also not supported; working-class women appear to be less satisfied with their lives and no more satisfied with their work whether the comparison group is working-class women with jobs or middle-class housewives. Social desirability, on the other hand, is found to be a major factor predicting the self-reported happiness of housewives, and the general issue of the role of social expectations in evaluating satisfaction is raised.     

Does Parenting Differ Based on Social Class?: African American Women's Perceived Socialization for Achievement

Research has provided some evidence of ethnic group, gender, and class differences in the socialization for achievement. However, there is little research on African American women with the exception of the studies of low-income, single mothers. To understand the similarities and differences in socialization for achievement based on social class, middle-class African American women from working- and middle-class backgrounds were studied using qualitative and quantitative methods to compare them on issues related to achievement socialization. Women from middle-class backgrounds reported that their parents had higher expectations for them and were more involved in their education than did women from working-class backgrounds. More middle-class parents expected their daughters to be successful in careers than did working-class parents. Women from working-class families did receive support from their parents but they did not have as much support as did the women from middle-class backgrounds. Women from working-class families perhaps made use of other sources to support their desire to succeed. There were no differences in perceived race-related socialization based on social class. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Social Class and Reported Changes in Behavior After Job Loss

Reports were obtained from middle-class and working-class unemployed British men about change or lack of change since job loss in 37 different behaviors. The behaviors were grouped into Domestic Work, Domestic Pastimes, Other Pastimes, Book Reading, Recreations, Entertainment Through Money, and Social Contacts. Contrary to findings from 1930s research, significant increases in social contact and book reading were reported since job loss. Other significant increases were reported within all categories except Entertainment Through Money, where a significant decline was recorded. A number of social class differences were found. For instance, middleclass unemploycd men were significantly more likely than their working-class counterparts to report increased book reading for study and more visits to the public library. Working-class respondents were significantly more likely to report increased looking around shops without buying and reduced visits to the pub. Several significant associations between reported behavior changes and aspects of psychological and general health were observed.     

SOCIAL CLASS, SOCIAL CHANGE, AND GENDER

This article explores the implications of social class background in the lives of women who attended Radcliffe College in the late 1940s and in the early 1960s. Viewing social classes as "cultures" with implications for how individuals understand their worlds, we examined social class background and cohort differences in women's experiences at Radcliffe, their adult life patterns, their constructions of women's roles, and the influence of the women's movement in their lives. Results indicated that women from working-class backgrounds in both cohorts felt alienated at Radcliffe. Cohort differences, across social class, reflected broad social changes in women's roles in terms of the rates of divorce, childbearing, level of education, and career activity. There were few social class-specific social changes, but there were a number of social class differences among the women in the Class of 1964. These differences suggested that women from working-class backgrounds viewed women's marital role with some suspicion, whereas women from middle- and upper-class backgrounds had a more positive view. Perhaps for this reason, working-class women reported that the women's movement confirmed and supported their skeptical view of middle-class gender norms.     

Middle- and Working-Class Black and White Children's Speech During a Picture-Labeling Task

The speech of 9 middle-class Black, 9 middle-class White, 9 working-class Black, and 9 working-class White preschool children was examined during a picture labeling task. The groups were found to be similar in levels and forms of labeling. There were class differences and race differences among the children: Middle-class and White children labeled more and provided more information about objects. Existing data from the children's parents indicate that there are many ways in which the groups of children resemble and differ from their parents in their labeling. The present findings demonstrate the influence of social context in shaping children's labeling and the simultaneous influence of the children's independent structuring of their labeling.     

Cognitive functioning of older people in relation to social and personality variables

Age differences in performance on memory measures and in subjective ratings of memory adequacy were examined in the context of 12 social, personality, adjustment, and lifestyle measures. Participants were 285 men and women, aged 65 to 93, of middle- and working-class backgrounds. A series of multivariate and univariate analyses revealed that a large proportion of the age differences and virtually all of the social-class differences on memory measures could be accounted for by contextual variables, with education, intellectual activity, extroversion, neuroticism, and lie scores (on the Eysenck Personality Inventory) all accounting for more of the variance in memory performance than did age. Self-rated memory adequacy was not correlated with performance, and although the expected finding of lower ratings by older participants was obtained with the working-class group, the opposite was true for the middle-class group. Implications of these results for understanding age differences in memory are discussed.     

Using multiple class indicators to examine working-class ideology

Eysenck showed that working-class supporters of any particular political party tended to be more conservative than middle-class supporters of the same party. Lipset has put forward the more ambitious thesis that working-class people in general are more authoritarian and conservative than middle-class people (except on economic issues). Existing evidence for the Lipset thesis suggests at best weak support for it with a lot depending on the particular scales used and the particular class index used. A comprehensive study is therefore presented in which six scales of conservatism, two scales of authoritarianism and political party preference are correlated with five social-class indices. Ss were a community sample of 203 Australians. Significant correlations were sparse and of low magnitude with working-class people tending to be radical rather than conservative on non-economic issues. Authoritarians also tended to be middle class rather than lower class. There were however two weak correlations with education in the direction predicted by Lipset.     

A comparative study of values and attitudes of inner-city and middle-class postpartum women

This study compared postpartum women from the inner city (n = 94) and postpartum women from the urban middle class (n = 80) on values and goals for themselves and their newborn children. Terminal values of inner-city women for themselves related more to social and religious goals in contrast to the more intrapersonal and personal goals of middle-class women. Instrumental values of inner-city women for their newborn children demonstrated concern with conformity and control, whereas for the middle class there was more concern with competence. Goals for the near future of the inner-city mothers were based on a desire for jobs and education.     

Attributions for Poverty: A Comparison of Middle-Class and Welfare Recipient Attitudes1

This study compared how a nonrandom sample of 112 middle-class persons and 124 welfare recipients explained poverty and perceived the welfare system and welfare recipients. Analyses revealed that welfare recipients were more likely to make structural attributions for poverty and to reject restrictive welfare-reform policies. However, they were also more likely than middle-class respondents to regard welfare recipients as dishonest and idle. Both groups underestimated the percentage of European Americans receiving public assistance. Implications for intergroup relations and public policy are discussed.     

Being mixed: who claims a biracial identity?

What factors determine whether mixed-race individuals claim a biracial identity or a monoracial identity? Two studies examine how two status-related factors-race and social class-influence identity choice. While a majority of mixed-race participants identified as biracial in both studies, those who were members of groups with higher status in American society were more likely than those who were members of groups with lower status to claim a biracial identity. Specifically, (a) Asian/White individuals were more likely than Black/White or Latino/White individuals to identify as biracial and (b) mixed-race people from middle-class backgrounds were more likely than those from working-class backgrounds to identify as biracial. These results suggest that claiming a biracial identity is a choice that is more available to those with higher status.     

Choice as an act of meaning: the case of social class

Social class is one important source of models of agency--normative guidelines for how to be a "good" person. Using choice as a prototypically agentic action, 5 studies test the hypotheses that models of agency prevalent in working-class (WK) contexts reflect a normative preference for similarity to others, whereas models prevalent in middle-class (MD) contexts reflect a preference for difference from others. Focusing on participants' choices, Studies 1 and 2 showed that participants from WK relative to MD contexts more often chose pens that appeared similar to, rather than different from, other pens in the choice set, and more often chose the same images as another participant. Examining participants' responses to others' choices, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that participants from WK relative to MD contexts liked their chosen pens more when a confederate chose similarly and responded more positively when a friend chose the same car in a hypothetical scenario. Finally, Study 5 found that car advertisements targeting WK rather than MD consumers more often emphasized connection to, rather than differentiation from, others, suggesting that models of agency are reflected in pervasive cultural products.     

The association between maternal strategies and preschoolers' memory for location of objects

Using a Vygotskian theoretical framework and a social interaction design, we observed 30 middle-class North American mother–child dyads engaged in a location memory activity. The central aim of this investigation was to assess maternal and preschool strategy use employed during a memory for location task, and to determine which strategies are associated with preschooler accuracy of memory for location of objects. Results suggest that mothers are more apt to utilize labelling, encouragement, and guidance as opposed to location-specific assistance to their child during the task, and children are more apt to link the memory information to their real-life experiences, request help for assistance, and utilize self-regulatory speech. Implications of the research, suggestions for future research, and expansions of theoretical perspectives on the role of social interaction on preschool location memory performance, and educational implications are discussed.     

Interactions with senior managers: Perceived differences by race/ethnicity and by gender

Differences among junior managers in their perceptions of various types of interactions with senior managers and levels of self-efficacy in initiating interactions were investigated. Study variables were determined following preliminary focus group interviews. These variables were subjected to a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANACOVA) to assess differences among the various racial, ethnic, and gender groups. Data were derived from a 53% response rate to a survey of 3106 junior managers in a Fortune 500 company. Subjects included Asian men (n = 29), Asian women (n = 21), Black men (n = 94), Black women (n = 84), Hispanic men (n = 28), Hispanic women (n = 18), White men (n = 708), and White women (n = 647). Results reveal that women perceived having less access to career-related interactions and to informal interactions with senior managers. Women also reported lower levels of self-efficacy in their personal skills and abilities in informal social activities. Black managers presented higher levels of self-efficacy related to initiating career-related interactions than White managers and Asian managers. Asian managers reported lower levels of self-efficacy related to initiating informal interactions with senior managers than Black, Hispanic, and White managers. Findings suggest that gender has a stronger influence than race or ethnicity on the nature of interactions with senior managers within this organization.This research was funded by a Susquehanna University Research Grant. The authors would like to thank Stacy Ross for her assistance with data collection and Richard K. Caputo, Paul Dion, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this article.     

The general self-efficacy scale: multicultural validation studies

General self-efficacy is the belief in one's competence to cope with a broad range of stressful or challenging demands, whereas specific self-efficacy is constrained to a particular task at hand. Relations between general self-efficacy and social cognitive variables (intention, implementation intentions, outcome expectancies, and self-regulation), behavior-specific self-efficacy, health behaviors, well-being, and coping strategies were examined among 1,933 respondents in 3 countries: Germany (n = 633), Poland (n = 359), and South Korea (n = 941). Participants were between 16 and 86 years old, and some were dealing with stressful situations such as recovery from myocardial events or tumor surgery. Perceived self-efficacy was measured by means of the General Self-Efficacy Scale (R. Schwarzer & M. Jerusalem, 1995). Meta-analysis was used to determine population effect sizes for four sets of variables. Across countries and samples, there is consistent evidence for associations between perceived self-efficacy and the variables under study confirming the validity of the psychometric scale. General self-efficacy appears to be a universal construct that yields meaningful relations with other psychological constructs.     

Perceptions of the Nature of Happiness: Cultural,but Related to the Dynamics of the Human Mind and the Gratification of General Needs

In her book ‘Happiness’ Laura Hyman identifies some discourses, as defined by Foucault, about happiness among 19 middle-class respondents in the UK. A discourse is a way of thinking and communicating about some issue, and comparable to a ‘perception’ or a’ view’. The dominant ‘Therapeutic Discourse’, is based on the view that happiness is an individual and normative challenge; it is to be worked on by selfcare and self-knowledge. A somewhat contradictory discourse puts more priority on social relations, as a condition for happiness. Hyman explains the co-existence of these discourses as a consequence of individualization. Individualization puts more priority on individual responsibility, but can easily lead to a neglect of social relations. It is difficult to assess the universality of these discourses, because the sample of respondents is very homogeneous. If individualization is an important factor we might expect different discourses in more collectivistic cultures. There are, however, theoretical reasons to believe that these discourses are rather universal. We may expect that the gratification of general needs is important. If certain needs are not gratified they will get more attention, and more priority, in a discourse about happiness. The ‘Therapeutic Discourse’, more in particular, is apparently a logical consequence of the dynamics of the human mind. The characteristics of the human consciousness clearly support this discourse. We need more empirical research, about discourses in different cultures, to find out for sure!     

Socioeconomic differences in coping with childbearing

The socioeconomic status of 200 women, who were completing a childbearing year, was found to be significantly associated with their attitudes, affective arousal and coping strategies. Differences in attitude existed toward 11 of 18 aspects of childbearing, working-class women holding more positive attitudes with the exception of their negative attitudes concerning physical problems and labor. Affective arousal, as measured by the application of 12 content analysis scales to the women's recollections, was greatest among working-class women who experienced more mutation, guilt, and total anxiety. This was associated with their tendency to avoid confrontation and be fatalistic in dealing with problems. They were less likely to exhibit instrumental coping by attending prenatal classes, seeking information, or planning. Interactions of socioeconomic status, type of problem, and coping strategy chosen occurred, as did some variations in the reactions of middle- and upper middle-class women.     

The relationship of clients’ social class to early therapeutic impressions

Using case vignettes that differed in the presentation of the client's social class, the influence of social class on therapeutic impressions was studied in the context of just-world beliefs. Results suggested that (1) participants with higher levels of belief in a just world saw poor and working-class clients as more unpleasant to work with and more dysfunctional and (2) working-class vignettes were associated with the lowest predictions of session depth and smoothness. The findings suggest that counselors may respond differently to clients based on their social class, and in a way that negatively predisposes them toward work with poor and working-class clients.     

Predictors of Coping with Work Stress: The Influences of Sex,Gender Role,Social Desirability,and Locus of Control

This investigation examined the influence of 4 personal attributes—sex, gender role, social desirability, and locus of control—as predictors of coping with work stress. Participants were 208 employed adult students (154 females and 54 males), primarily European Americans (90.4%) from working-class backgrounds. Theresults indicated that men were more likely to use alcohol and women more likely to use direct action. Femininity and/or masculinity scores predicted control-related coping butwere unrelated to escape-related coping. High social desirability scores predicted direct action coping, whereas low scores predicted alcohol use. In terms of locus of control, an internal orientation predicted help-seeking and positive thinking, a powerful others orientation predicted avoidance/resignation, and a chance orientation predicted alcohol use.