Domesticity and Dirt
In the era after Suffrage, white middle-class housewives abandoned moves toward paid work for themselves, embraced domestic life, and felt entitled to servants. In Domesticity and Dirt, Phyllis Palmer examines the cultural norms that led such women to take on the ornamental and emotional elements of...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Temple University Press
2023
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| Online Access: | ONIX_20231005_9781439918135_1583 |
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| _version_ | 1869521375382732800 |
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| author | Palmer, Phyllis |
| author_browse | Palmer, Phyllis |
| author_facet | Palmer, Phyllis |
| author_sort | Palmer, Phyllis |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | In the era after Suffrage, white middle-class housewives abandoned moves toward paid work for themselves, embraced domestic life, and felt entitled to servants. In Domesticity and Dirt, Phyllis Palmer examines the cultural norms that led such women to take on the ornamental and emotional elements of the job while relegating the hard physical work and demeaning service tasks to servants—mainly women of color. Using novels, films, magazine articles, home economics texts, and government-funded domestic training course manuals, the author details cultural expectations about middle-class homelife. Palmer describes how government-funded education programs encouraged the divisions of labor and identity and undercut domestic workers’ organized efforts during the 1930s to win inclusion in New Deal programs regulating labor conditions. Aided by less powerful black civil rights groups, without the assistance of trade unions or women’s clubs, domestics failed to win legal protections and the legal authority and self-respect these brought to covered workers. The author also reveals how middle- class women responded ambivalently to the call to aid women workers when labor reforms threatened their domestic arrangements. Throughout her study, Palmer questions why white middle-class women looked to new technology and domestic help to deal with cultural demands upon "the perfect housewife" rather than expecting their husbands to help. When the supply of servants declined during the 1950s, middle-class housewives were left isolated with lots of housework. Although they rapidly followed their servants into paid work outside the home, they remain responsible for housework and child care. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-115813 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Temple University Press |
| publisherStr | Temple University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1158132024-04-04T14:41:13Z Domesticity and Dirt Palmer, Phyllis History Sociology Political Science thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNX Industrial relations, occupational health and safety::KNXN Industrial arbitration and negotiation thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups::JBSF1 Gender studies: women and girls In the era after Suffrage, white middle-class housewives abandoned moves toward paid work for themselves, embraced domestic life, and felt entitled to servants. In Domesticity and Dirt, Phyllis Palmer examines the cultural norms that led such women to take on the ornamental and emotional elements of the job while relegating the hard physical work and demeaning service tasks to servants—mainly women of color. Using novels, films, magazine articles, home economics texts, and government-funded domestic training course manuals, the author details cultural expectations about middle-class homelife. Palmer describes how government-funded education programs encouraged the divisions of labor and identity and undercut domestic workers’ organized efforts during the 1930s to win inclusion in New Deal programs regulating labor conditions. Aided by less powerful black civil rights groups, without the assistance of trade unions or women’s clubs, domestics failed to win legal protections and the legal authority and self-respect these brought to covered workers. The author also reveals how middle- class women responded ambivalently to the call to aid women workers when labor reforms threatened their domestic arrangements. Throughout her study, Palmer questions why white middle-class women looked to new technology and domestic help to deal with cultural demands upon "the perfect housewife" rather than expecting their husbands to help. When the supply of servants declined during the 1950s, middle-class housewives were left isolated with lots of housework. Although they rapidly followed their servants into paid work outside the home, they remain responsible for housework and child care. 2023-10-05T10:49:09Z 2023-10-05T10:49:09Z 1989 book ONIX_20231005_9781439918135_1583 9781439918135 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/115813 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv941wpk Temple University Press 10.2307/j.ctv941wpk 10.2307/j.ctv941wpk bc531d0f-4e8c-4706-b946-82682309f49a dcf50849-b837-420d-ac46-64995a7bf0d4 9781439918135 [...] National Endowment for the Humanities U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities 10.13039/100000103 open access |
| spellingShingle | History Sociology Political Science thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNX Industrial relations, occupational health and safety::KNXN Industrial arbitration and negotiation thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups::JBSF1 Gender studies: women and girls Palmer, Phyllis Domesticity and Dirt |
| title | Domesticity and Dirt |
| title_full | Domesticity and Dirt |
| title_fullStr | Domesticity and Dirt |
| title_full_unstemmed | Domesticity and Dirt |
| title_short | Domesticity and Dirt |
| title_sort | domesticity and dirt |
| topic | History Sociology Political Science thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNX Industrial relations, occupational health and safety::KNXN Industrial arbitration and negotiation thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups::JBSF1 Gender studies: women and girls |
| topic_facet | History Sociology Political Science thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history thema EDItEUR::K Economics, Finance, Business and Management::KN Industry and industrial studies::KNX Industrial relations, occupational health and safety::KNXN Industrial arbitration and negotiation thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBS Social groups, communities and identities::JBSF Gender studies, gender groups::JBSF1 Gender studies: women and girls |
| url | ONIX_20231005_9781439918135_1583 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT palmerphyllis domesticityanddirt |