Legitimation contexts : a grounded theory of the social legitimacy of househusbands

Abstract

For some time now women have been challenging restrictive ideologically based prescriptions oriented around motherhood, child care and housework. Simultaneously men have been challenged by these changes to examine some of their gendered practices. Some men in nuclear families have taken on the roles qf full-time care giver and housekeeper. This is a study of the experiences of a group of men who have made the transition from a social identity based on paid employment and responsibility for economic provision, to a new social identity based on domestic responsibilities o f housework and child care. This study used in-depth interviews to elicit information about these experiences. A common theme that emerged was the failure o f these men to feel incorporated or assimilated into the extant community o f others engaged in similar wont. These men have had to navigate discursive contexts in which the legitimacy of their involvement in the domestic realm and their own identifications with their new roles have been challenged. This analysis is an attempt to ground a theory o f the negotiation o f legitimacy for these status passages or role reversals, using concepts that emerged from the raw data during analysis.