The Housemaid - An Occupational Role in Crisis

Abstract

This artide is an incidental product of a survey of the impact of labour-legislation upon the working conditions of housemaids in Oslo.1) It is intended as a contribution to the sociology of occupations. Its main thesis is this: The occupational relationship and the role expectations between a family and its domestic servants were patterned throughout a long tradition in a society with a preponderance of Gemeinschaft-characteristics. In Sir Henry Maine's terms, it was for a very long time a status-relationship and not one based upon contract. The Gesellschaft-characteristics that today dominate in most other occupations of industrial society have not left the same marks on this time-honoured relationship. But neither do present conditions permit a continuation of a relationship on a genuine Gemeinschaft-basis. While the role of the housemaid is wavering between these two occupational models, its incumbents are escaping from the field as statistics show beyond any doubt. Attempts to restore the balance in the relationship through legislation has not been very successful in reversing this trend. The significance of our problem is twofold. It is based upon the assumption that the employer and employee are not free to arrange their relationship in any way they want. There is certainly room for great variation, and the personalities of the parties have a determining influence on the success and satisfaction in the relationship, probably more so than in most occupational relationships. But the arrangements made have repercussions and premises that go way beyond the factors controlled by the housemaid and her employer. They are both caught in the web of role-expectations that are traditionally given or imposed by present economic and