An insightful look at sex roles
1984Arthur Maglin 1984-12Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 14 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 14
zine, which promoted a macho, single image as its alternative to the breadwinner ethic. In the same The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the decade appeared the Beat rebellion with its vigorous Flight from Commitment, by Barbara Ehrenreich. denunciation-for men-of both work and marAnchor Books, 206 pр., $5.95 (paper).
In the 1960s the medical establishment and the In "The Hearts of Men, Barbara Ehrenreich has media promoted the notion that the typical corpoproduced a pioneering and provocative study of the rate ladder-climber-an ambitious, single-minded, change that has taken place in the relations between workaholic man-was making himself more prone men and women in the last 30 years. She raises new to heart attacks through his type-A personality. At questions and offers some thoughtful answers. At the same time, the new psychology eschewed conthe same time, there is a curiously top-down formity in favor of personal growth, and the counapproach in her view of the way history is made. terculture began a drift toward androgyny and away Ehrenreich shows that accompanying the women's revolt against the homemaker role in the family Finally, in the 1970s, the human potential movewas a simultaneous revolt by men against the bread- ment and the men's liberation movement directly winner role. The American dream of the 1950s assaulted the deficiencies in the traditional male role. required that a man get married, support his wife Ehrenreich does a thorough job of compiling and and children, buy a home, and tolerate his work no analyzing her source material. But her limited methodology makes her miss what is really most essential.
Since the '50s, however, this image of normal She argues that the change in traditionally male manhood has been shattered. Men now feel they modes of thinking occurred primarily as a revolt have other options-to stay single, to get divorced, against the breadwinner role in the family. to not have children, to "allow" their wives to work. She further posits that this revolt was led by the In short, men no longer feel obliged to be breadwin- "middle class" spokesmen for the capitalist class or, as she prefers to call this middle layer, the "profesThus, Ehrenreich finds an adequate explanation Ehrenreich attempts to explain how this hap- for this profound social change in a 30-year intellecpened. First, she contends, there were the "gray- tual history of just one segment of the establishflannel dissidents" who questioned the emptiness of the corporate rat race in the 1950s but who offered What would be an alternative way of viewing the only conscious conformity as an alternative to reversals in male attitudes about themselves and unconscious conformity. Then came Playboy maga- about women? We can begin by looking at the male How to get in touch wit SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1984 matter how stifling.
Traditional male role Boston Socialist Action P.O. Box 1046 GMF Boston, MA 02205 Buffalo Socialist Action P.O. Box 275 Buffalo, N.Y. 14207 Chicago Socialist Action Box 80 B: 2520 N. Lincr Chicago, IL 60614 (312) 248-1094 Cincinnati Socialist Action P.O. Box 3033 Cincinnati, OH 45201 (513) 242-9043 riage. from traditional masculinity. sional-managerial class."
ment.
Cleveland Socialist Action P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Houston Socialist Action University of Houston Box 551, 4800 Calhoun Houston, TX 77004 (713) 643-2030 Los Angeles Socialist Action 18653 Ventura Blvd Box 217 Los Angeles, CA 91356 (213) 343-4511 Michigan Socialist Action P.O. Box 4523 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Minneapolis Socialist Acti‹ P.O. Box 14087 Dinkytown Station Minneapolis, MN 55414 New York Socialist Action P.O. Box 20209 Cathedral Finance 693 Columbus Ave New York, NY 10025 rule.
fit men as well as women. Phoenix Socialist Action P.O. Box 5161 Phoenix, AZ 85010 (602) 894-0055 Pittsburgh Socialist Action P.O. Box 10769 Pittsburgh, PA 15203 Puget Sound Socialist Action P.O. Box 2903 Olympia, WA 98507 Divide and rule San Francisco Socialist Action 3435 Army Street, Rm. 308 San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 821-0458 Washington Socialist Action P.O. Box 3467 Washington, D.C. 20010 (202) 232-1481 West Virginia Socialist Action P.O. Box 701 Fairmont, WV 26555-0701
Scan page 15
Berlin Conference revisited