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Politics of everyday life: Continuity and change in work and the family
Journal qf Historical Geography, 17, 4 (1991) 465-500
Reviews
Europe HELENCORRand LYNNJAMIE~ON(EDs)Politics of Everyday Life: Continuity and Change in Work and the Family (London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi+ 259. g40+00 and L14.99 paperback) LYNN JAMIESONand HELEN CORR (EDs) State, Private L&e and Political Change (London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi + 247. $40.00 and f14.99 paperback) SHELLEYPENNINGTONand BELINDAWESTOVERA Hidden Workforce: Homeworkers in (London: Macmillan, 1989. Pp. xi + 191. E35.00 and f9.99 paperback) England, 1850-1985
These three volumes attest to the value of an encounter between sociology and history which, as the editors of one of them suggest, underlines the importance of viewing all social categories as historical formulations, politically contested in the relationships between state, workplace and residence. A social perspective on the past reveals how current assumptions about women, family and sexuality are neither fixed nor immune to change by collective action. In particular, these works address the social history of gender relations, thereby adding to a growing literature on the subject. The two companion volumes edited by Corr and Jamieson stem from papers delivered at the British Sociological Association Conference on “Sociology and History” held in Edinburgh in 1988. Their combined twenty-one chapters mostly focus on England and Scotland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although one collection concentrates on the themes of work and family and the other on the impact of the state on everyday life, many of the essays could have been placed in either and the two books are closely related. Some are reviews of key debates based on secondary sources while others, generally more rewarding, are based on more focused case studies. Politics of Everyday Life begins with four chapters exploring the social construction of family, youth, childhood and parenthood. Crow and Allan dispute the thesis of the modern privatization of the family by arguing that past domestic relationships were less public than is often claimed and that the modern domestic ideal is not only class-specific but also androcentric. Home-centredness, they claim, is associated with changes in male activity while leaving unchanged female domestic experiences. Middle-class beliefs about respectable and proper childhood were deployed against working-class children in the late nineteenth century. Davin examines the state’s rescue and protection activities designed to achieve a clear demarcation between the stages of childhood and adulthood in Victorian England, part of a moral panic which remains powerful. The notion of youth as a life-cycle stage with historically contingent meaning also informs Irwin’s critique of YTS (Youth Training Scheme) and the youth unemployment debate. She argues for an understanding of youth which goes beyond labour force circumstances to recognise the significance of household, family and male-female relationships. Jamieson and Toynbee complete the theme by reviewing and comparing changing forms of 0305-7488/91/040465+36$03.00/0
465
cj 1991Academic
Press Limited
Reviews
Europe HELENCORRand LYNNJAMIE~ON(EDs)Politics of Everyday Life: Continuity and Change in Work and the Family (London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi+ 259. g40+00 and L14.99 paperback) LYNN JAMIESONand HELEN CORR (EDs) State, Private L&e and Political Change (London: Macmillan, 1990. Pp. xi + 247. $40.00 and f14.99 paperback) SHELLEYPENNINGTONand BELINDAWESTOVERA Hidden Workforce: Homeworkers in (London: Macmillan, 1989. Pp. xi + 191. E35.00 and f9.99 paperback) England, 1850-1985
These three volumes attest to the value of an encounter between sociology and history which, as the editors of one of them suggest, underlines the importance of viewing all social categories as historical formulations, politically contested in the relationships between state, workplace and residence. A social perspective on the past reveals how current assumptions about women, family and sexuality are neither fixed nor immune to change by collective action. In particular, these works address the social history of gender relations, thereby adding to a growing literature on the subject. The two companion volumes edited by Corr and Jamieson stem from papers delivered at the British Sociological Association Conference on “Sociology and History” held in Edinburgh in 1988. Their combined twenty-one chapters mostly focus on England and Scotland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although one collection concentrates on the themes of work and family and the other on the impact of the state on everyday life, many of the essays could have been placed in either and the two books are closely related. Some are reviews of key debates based on secondary sources while others, generally more rewarding, are based on more focused case studies. Politics of Everyday Life begins with four chapters exploring the social construction of family, youth, childhood and parenthood. Crow and Allan dispute the thesis of the modern privatization of the family by arguing that past domestic relationships were less public than is often claimed and that the modern domestic ideal is not only class-specific but also androcentric. Home-centredness, they claim, is associated with changes in male activity while leaving unchanged female domestic experiences. Middle-class beliefs about respectable and proper childhood were deployed against working-class children in the late nineteenth century. Davin examines the state’s rescue and protection activities designed to achieve a clear demarcation between the stages of childhood and adulthood in Victorian England, part of a moral panic which remains powerful. The notion of youth as a life-cycle stage with historically contingent meaning also informs Irwin’s critique of YTS (Youth Training Scheme) and the youth unemployment debate. She argues for an understanding of youth which goes beyond labour force circumstances to recognise the significance of household, family and male-female relationships. Jamieson and Toynbee complete the theme by reviewing and comparing changing forms of 0305-7488/91/040465+36$03.00/0
465
cj 1991Academic
Press Limited