In a vivid, precise, but limited study, Gerson (Sociology/N.Y.U.)
extends to men the problems she explored in Hard Choices (1985), a
study of women's dilemmas with family and career. Here, she
concludes that there are more differences among men on these issues
than there are between men and women. Gerson's findings are based
on interviews with 138 men between the ages of 28 and 45 living in
the metropolitan New York area whose names appeared either on
alumni lists of a local, unnamed university or on labor-council
lists - lists that offered a sampling that was 94% non-Hispanic
white: Missing, in addition to a representative proportion of
African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanics, are the
chronically impoverished or unemployed. The interviews traced life
trajectories, including the various traumas and challenges the men
had encountered. Gerson groups her subjects into three
orientations: "breadwinning" (men who either by choice or accident
are providers in the traditional sense); "autonomous" (men who are
single, married without children, divorced, or widowed) and
"involved" (men who, as nurturers or helpers, place an emphasis on
their families). Contrary to popular belief, Gerson finds that only
half of the men actually chose to be breadwinners - a role, she
points out, that arose with the Industrial Revolution. Each role
here has its own strengths and problems: A breadwinner requires the
support of a full-time housewife and is uncomfortable with
challenges to his prerogatives; an autonomous man may be unable to
form close emotional ties or hold a job, and may end up as a
"deadbeat dad"; the involved man may suffer economically for the
time he devotes to his children. Gerson concludes with a
philosophical essay on the male myth and the politics of gender. In
spite of the limited and slanted population sampling: a
persuasively argued, sympathetic contribution to the growing
literature of male liberation. (Kirkus Reviews)
What does it mean to be a man in a world where women are almost as
likely as men to shoulder the responsibilities of supporting a
family? Why do some men still choose to be traditional breadwinners
while others flee the responsibilities of parenthood altogether,
and still others become infinitely more involved in family life
than earlier generations of men? Here's a look at how men are
coping with the gender revolution.
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