The multiple meanings of time binds Time as a window on solidarity in five Jewish families

The

multiple meanings of time binds

Time as a window on solidarity in five Jewish families

Davidson

Christopher

Davidson, Christopher

Author

University of California, Berkeley

Center for Working Families

University of California, Berkeley. Center for Working Families

Sponsor

text

working paper

Berkeley, CA Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley 2001 2001 monographic

Berkeley, CA

Center for Working Families, University of California, Berkeley

2001

monographic

English eng

English

eng

electronic application/pdf 48 p. born digital

electronic

application/pdf

48 p.

born digital

Most literature on family-work conflict assumes the centrality of work as a source of meaning, and critiques the economic injustices of the market economy (low wages and long work hours) while skirting the issue of the cultural hegemony of the marketplace. I argue that work-family conflict is best understood from the larger theoretical perspective of the hegemony of individualism and families' attempts to resist it. Using data from interviews with parents and teenagers in five upper- middle-class families of affiliated Jews in California, I argue that paid work is not the "master meaning maker" that we might expect, given our understanding of work, professions, and the marketplace as the new hegemonic ideology. Instead, time bind conflicts in families are a symptom of competing allegiances to four sources of identity : the expressive self, the utilitarian self, the extended family, and the community of memory. The utilitarian family expresses its identity through the cultivation of children's talents and through conflicts over the extent to which the children are realizing their potential. The expressive family builds solidarity around the emotional growth of children and fights about the timing and tone of self-expression. The familistic family finds intimacy and conflict in the fulfillment of obligations to fellow family members. The communal family comes together through Judaism and debates the extent to which it will participate in community life.

Christopher Davidson is a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Working Families and a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper No. 20

Berkeley Center for Working Families Working Paper

No. 20

Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States" (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/)

wfn_bwpaper_13.pdf

MChB English eng

MChB

English eng

English

eng