Social Histories of Work and Family: Sources of Information From Pre-industrial Societies

1. Historical Overview of Work-Family Relationships Module 1, Class 2A Teaching Module Developed by the Curriculum Task Force of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network

2. Social Histories of Work and Family: Sources of Information From Pre-industrial Societies • Diaries • Family letters • Tombstones • Sermons • Publications • Legal Documents • Institutional records (school, hospital, business records) • Songs • Household architecture

3. Anne Bradstreet’s Tombstone 1643 What does this document say about women’s roles in colonial America and their power in the home and the community? A Worthy Matron of unspotted Life A loving Mother and obedient wife A friendly neighbor, pitiful to poor Whom oft she fed, and clothed with her store To Servants wisely aweful, but yet kind And as they did, so they reward did find A true Instructor of her Family The which she ordered with dexterity The publick meetings ever did frequent And in her Closet constant hours she spent Religious in all her words and wayes Preparing still for death til end of dayes Of all her Children, Children lived to see Then dying, left a blessed memory

4. Hannah Dustin was considered a hero in her time by the colonists. Harriet Nelson was the archetype woman of the 1950s. What does our culture expect of women today? How does that vary from women’s roles in Colonial America and their roles during the Cold War era? Why did these changes occur?

5. Pre-industrial Work and Family What was the household composition? How were roles divided? How did they intersect? What were the rhythms of the day? When did work start and stop? What were the main barriers to “success?”

6. The Industrial Sustainable Approaches Revolution: From Integrated to Industrialized Society • Wages become the family economic lifeline. • “Unemployment” becomes a new concern. • Time replaces tasks as the system of organizing work. • Work became physically separated from the home - Emergence of ideology of separate spheres • Entrenchment of segregated gender roles

7. Industrial welfare Anything for the comfort and improvement, intellectual or social, of the employees, over and above wages paid, which is not a necessity or required by law. Early Developments in Work and Family Policy:Industrial Welfare and Corporate Paternalism Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1919.

8. Workers Leaving the Amoskeag Mill 1909 • Benefits at Amoskeag: • Subsidized housing • Social activities/recreation activities • Profit sharing • Retirement program • Employee welfare program • English classes • Visiting nurses • Charity to widows • Accident ward • Dentist for children • Playgrounds Why did companies like Amoskeag develop paternalistic work-family policies? What impact did they have on workers’ lives? Employer control over their lives? Is this the model to follow in today’s economy?

9. Sample letters to the Amoskeag company housing agent Sir: Will you be kind enough to give me a paper and give a good word for me. So that I could get a tenement in the Corporation that is one on Arkright Street, no. 16 the family ar to moved away soon and I would like to have it if you please give me a paper and good word and tell how long I ave been working in the Amoskeag Co. Your Joseph Fianchetto. May 31, 1905 My dear foreman: I told you day before yesterday to let me have a little more money to meet my expenses and you fired me out. I did not mean to quit my job. I worked for you for 2 years and I do like to work for you…please let me have my job. Thanking you for all you kindness, I am yours most faithfully George Giacos. Nov 29, 1905 Tamara Haraven, T. (1982). Family time and industrial time. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

10. The mark of manhood became the ability to bring home a wage Women’s work became defined as “non-productive” Cult of domesticity and new visions of femininity Male-Breadwinner/Female-Caregiver Model of the 20th Century What were the benefits and costs of this arrangement for women? How about men, were their interests advanced or harmed by this arrangement?

11. Beyond the Breadwinner/Homemaker model • What challenges face working families today and how do they depart from the challenges faced at the mid 20th century? • Changing family structures • Changing work opportunities • Changing securities • Changing demographies

12. Source: Moen, P., Sweet, S. & Bickley, T. (2001). How Family Friendly is Upstate New York? Ithaca, NY: Careers Center, Cornell University.

13. Projected Racial Composition of the United States: 2000-2050 Source: Marks, S. (2006). Understanding the diversity of families in the 21st century. In M. Pitt-Catsouphes, E.E. Kossek & S. Sweet. (Eds.), The work and family handbook: Multidisciplinary perspectives and methods (pp. 41-65). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

14. Farnesworth-Riche, M. (2006.) Demographic implications for work-family research. In M. Pitt-Catsouphes, E.E. Kossek, and S. Sweet (Eds.), The work and family handbook: Multidisciplinary perspectives and methods, (pp. 125-140). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

15. Forms of Work Diversity • Industries/Sectors What is being produced • Occupations/Jobs The tasks involved • Organization size Small vs. large companies • Employees The types of people performing work • Contractual arrangements Compensation, security • Schedules When work is performed • Geography Where work is performed

16. Employment Trends in Manufacturing, Retail/Wholesale Trade, and Services 1970-20021 Services Trade Manufacturing 1 Employment represents 1000 workers. Source: U.S. Census Bureau. (2002). Statistical Abstracts of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.