-Worlds of Pain-

To get the whole world out of bed
And washed, and dressed, and warmed, and fed,
To work, and back to bed again,
Believe me, Saul, costs
Worlds of Pain
-John Masefield--"The Everlasting Mercy"-

Lillian Breslow Rubin Bio.

About the Study

• 50 white working class families
• They are all intact families.
• Neither husband nor wife has more than a high-school education.
• The husband works in what is traditionally defined as a blue-collar occupation.

Study continued

• The wife was under 40 at the time of the study.
• There was at least one child of elementary age(under 12) still in the home.
• 100 interviews
• 12 different communities around the San Francisco Bay.(50 mile radius)

25 Professional Middle Class Families.

• They were also interviewed for comparison, and because she wanted to be sure that what she was calling working class behavior and attitudes were indeed that and not an artifact of her own ignorance or misunderstanding.
• These families whose characteristics match the working-class group in all but their education and occupation.

25 continued

• Both wives and husbands in this group had at least a college education, and the men are all in professional occupations.

How Did The Working Class Grow?

• They grow in a corrosive and disabling poverty that shattered the hopes and dreams of their young parents, and twisted the lives of those who were "stuck together" in it
• 40%had at least one alcoholic parent.
• Almost as many were children of divorce of desertion.
• 10% spend part of their lives in institutions or foster homes.

The Children of working class grow with

• Pain
• Bitterness
• Loneliness
• Anger
• Rebelliousness
• Resignation

The Children of working class grow with

• Institutions and foster homes
• Violence/Desertion
• Divorce
• Lack of attention
• Label as an "incorrigible/trouble maker"

Untitled Slide

• Some of the families struggle desperately and, most of the time, successfully remain among the "respectable poor".
• Others gave up on the fight and, more than not, scape their pain in drinking, violence or desertion. Observing these patterns recently, one writer labeled them as "settled-living" and "hard living" lifestyles.

Settled Living

• (Stable Families) Families that were characterized by stable work histories. (Sense of rootedness) They were cautious, conservative, church-going, and if they drank, they did so in moderation. Their children were dressed neatly and attend school regularly- at least in the elementary grade. They were brought up strictly to mind their manners, and subject to a very rigid discipline.

Hard Living

• In contrast of the "Settled Living" there was "Hard Living"
• Families that were characterized by fathers with chaotic work histories. The nonconformist, those who can't accept their social status.

And So they Were Wed

• They were young when they married for the first time.
• Average of age 18 for women and 20 for men. Youngest 15 &16.
• They married as an escape.
• They got caught. 80% engaged in a sexual relationship before marrige.

Untitled Slide

• 44% of the women became pregnant.
• They divorced and remarried.
• Some of the young divorcees, often married because they were exhausted from the struggle to support and care for their small children.

"Good Girl"-"Bad Girl"

• Their fears of these women being tagged with the "bad girl" label are rooted in social reality and reinforced in interactions with their man who "throw it back in their wives' faces".
• Birth Control Planning, implying as it does preparation for the sex act, is incompataible with her definition of self as a "good girl". The formulation goes something like this: "good girls" do but don't plan; "bad girls" do and plan.

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• Thirty-three-year-old typist, mother of three, married eleven years:
• "When I got married, I suppose I must have loved him, but at the time I was busy planning the wedding and I wasn't thinking about anything else. I was just thinking about this big white wedding and all the trimmings... I wasn't thinking about the problems we might have or anything like that."
• Very commonly, people entered into marriage out of necessity.

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• "Was there a period of adjustment after you were married?"
• Twenty-seven-year-old pantry woman, mother of two, married ten years:
• "That's part of the trouble - people get married without really paying attention to what they're getting into."
• Hence "dream versus reality"

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• "When I was young"
• "Such an extended psycho-social moratorium and concomitant crisis of identity is, it would seem, a luxury of the affluent middle-class."

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• thirty-three-year-old housewife, mother of three, married thirteen years:
• "I guess I can't complain. He's a steady worker, he doesn't drink, he doesn't hit me. That's a lot more than my mother had, and she didn't sit around complaining and feeling sorry for herself, so I sure haven't got the right."
• Middle-class women mentioned intimacy, communication, and sharing.

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• "he won't let me"
• Power and authority of working-class husbands is openly acknowledged and accepted.
• Husband is depicted as the controller, and primary decision maker - the wife is often the passenger.

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• "Whose life would you say is easier - a man's or a woman's?"
• Unanimously, both husband and wife agreed that the husbands lead easier lives.
• Men expressed this with a "cool calmness" and a sense of mild regret.
• Women expressed this with heated frusteration.

Marriage: The Dream versus Reality

• When asked what parents would wish for the future of their children - nearly all mothers wished their daughters would grow to be more independent, become educated, and not marry so young.
• Author concludes that this is a clear representation of the negative feelings these women have about their own lives.

work and how they feel?

• Rubin explains to us through interviews of working class men how tedious and mind numbing their jobs can be leaving them feeling like they have very little control over their lives and and leave them resigned to settle for jobs that will offer security for them and their families.
• less and less blue collar jobs offer jobs that require skills rather they require repatriation

million dollar inheritance?

• b/c the actual work they do is so "routine,dull and alienating" many men will turn to "projects" at home such as fixing up cars or the house
• many fantize about owing their own buisenness or farm someday
• the end game would be to be their own boss therfoer haveing control over their own lives

million dollar inheritance?

• not many are encourage to pursue arts because they are not a relible nor "realsitic" source of income for the future
• 6 men said they would hone/ pursue natural artistic talents

million dollar inheritance?

• working class jobs are often very unrelalible and workers are often subject to layoffs and accidents
• adding to the finacial stress of the working class families
• 70% said they would pay off bills/debt first

million dollar inheritance?

• most middle class did not answer with paying off bills or helping their family/ buying parents houses so they "wouldn't have to worry anymore"
• this is a result of middle class families having the security of a steady income and security that parents are able to take care of themselves
• 34% of working class families said they would help their families

wives at work

• many woman in the working class work after marriage as well much to the dismay of their husbands it is rarely a choice and has way more to do with financial necessity
• although their are diffrent veiws woman hold on working outside the home 2 clear sides emerge

wives should stay home

• this school of thought held by many men and some of the woman described in the book
• reasons are..
• jobs previously held are "dull and oppressive"
• the outside jobs force some found to be to overwhelming
• woman enjoy the house tasks as opposed to the demands of a "job"
• children need to be cared for

wives should be able to work

• in the interviews that Rubin presents it seems that more woman were comfortable with and wanted to work.
• reasons are....
• helps with bills
• find work satsfying
• gives them a sense of independance and who they are beyon wives and mothers.

woman in the work force

• woman however are hired into low level postions that dont pay very well either however the moment that they are no longer needed to work they are the first to go

home and work

• woman who work and are mothers and wives often experience guilt for not spending enough time at home with the children and also experance being irritable with the children because of how tired they can be after a day work and household duties.

husbands and wives who work

• All the husbands presented seemed to have a problem with their wives working or attending school many stating that they either would or were already "too independent" and that they
• Rubin states that a wife that works can also be seen as a failure to provide on the husbands part and the men in the chapter seemed to share this sentiment
• a wife who works also makes the husband and wife more equal now she has a say in the decisions of the fiances and the husband cannot simply put his foot down and have that be the end of it
• wives agrue that if they didnt work then they would never be able to pay bills and stay afloat

failure on both sides

• Rubin writes "thus both women and men stuck in a painful bind, each blaming each other for failures to meet cultrual fantasies-fantasies that have little relation to their needs, their expirances or the socioeconmic realites of the world they live in".

free time and how its spent

• in chapter 10 rubin investigates how the working class family spends its down time as well as the needs that both men and wemon need and like to have when recharging or resting

Resting on a week day

• an averge routine as rubin describes it is...
• dinner
• she does chores that need to be done
• he might help but usually watches tv or does some fixing around the house,car or other tinkerings
• she will join him after she has finished all chores and they might fall asleep watching TV
• if the woman is a homemaker she might also want to go out of the house to drive around or visit a friend or family member

resting on a weekend

• many activites on the weekend involve the family (a popular activity is bowling)

why working-class men want to stay in

• working men have been at work all day and look forward to the peace of home
• as previously stated staying home would allow for more access and time for projects
• projects at home help affirm his masculity

why a working-class woman want to go out

• if she is a home-maker she is bored of the house and wants to get out for a second
• nurturing and visiting with people helps affirm their feminity

mutual friends

• all of the working class examples Rubin reveled did not have friends over after if at all because it would be to expensive and too much work for a dinner party
• on the opposite middle class people Rubin reports often have dinner together and with work colleagues which is also something that doesn't happen in the working class
• working class couples usually maintaine their own friends and they are usually neighbors and most friendships "stop at the door" as rubin puts it
• as most friends either of them had when they first met will have been given up, by both parts

visits

• because both partners have separted each from their friends most interaction actually occurs with extended family
• and usally just quick "drop-ins"

clear distinctions

• in the working class rubin found clear distions between work and lesuire time
• for the middle class this is not true as stated they often go out to dinner with colleagues and discuss business and personal things. these dinners also usually involve the wives and "she becaoms a part of his activitys"

nights out and stop offs

• neither of the working class indivduals liked the idea of their counter parts haveing night outs with friends b/c then they "could do it too"
• some also stated it would create bad habits
• none of the wives appreciated their husbands stopping off after work for a drink. reasons....
• history of alchohalsim in one or both of the partners family
• coming home late without notice
• coming home intoxicated
• the wives think it unfair that he can come home late but they are either home all day or come home straight from work.

clubs

• woman tend to belong to the P.T.A
• men to the uniion which is usually not by choice
• although most poeple belong to groups they do not particapate in them

vacations

• some of the working class own campers or boats that are hardly ever used because of lack of time money and energy
• so at most the expensive equipment is used 2-3 times a year

Worlds of pain

• Some topics lend themselves to conclusions; they have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This one does not. for it is about life and the people who live it. And life is a process that, until death, does not lend itself to endings.
• This book implies: the affluent and happy worker of whom we have heard so much in recent decades seems not to Exist.

Million Dollar Fantasy

• Would you fantasy for a minute about what you'd do if you suddenly inherited a million dollars?
• First words that come to most of their lips are, "I'd pay off my bills."

Million continued

• For, in fact they live precariously perched on the edge of financial disaster; any layoff, any cutback in overtime threatens to through them into the abyss.

Questions

• Where, then, does this myth of affluence come from in the working class?

Untitled Slide

• It is the illusion of a society that mistakes the acquisition of consumer items with the the good life.
• Adds to the cost of living
• all requiring payment before the first dollar is spent on food or medical care.

Question

• What kind of society doesn't provide the most basic of life's needs?

Sociological Concepts

• Sociological Imagination
• Stratification and Inequality
• Objective Reality vs. Subjective Reality

Objective Reality vs. Subjective Reality

• The way things are and the way we think things are...
• Our inability to deal realistically with the question of class has remained relatively unchanged.
• The Gap between the working class and the professional middle class is wider than ever

Sociological Imagination

• The ability to look beyond what is called the personal troubles of individuals to see the public issues of social structure--that is, the social forces operating in the larger society.
• Was the concept of C. Wright Mills

S.I. continued

• Mills suggests that people often misunderstand their own circumstances because they have an individualistic bias.
• The individualistic bias leads people to think that their own situations are wholly a result of their own behavior.
• They don't notice that there are larger entities, forces outside themselves, that shape their behaviors.

S.I. continued

• Without guidance from the sociological imagination, our individualistic bias leads us to treat individuals as the source of problems.
• The individualistic bias prevents us from discovering that some of our worst problems are the result of social forces.

Inequalities

Class-based Stratification

• Commonly thought that the best people work their way to the highest ranks.
• In contrast, those who don't fall to the lowest ranks.
• This is legitimized under the assumption that everyone is autonomous and has an equal opportunity to reach success.
• This theory is only legitimate when social and economic factors are NOT determinates.

The End...