Women's Occupational and Family Achievement in the U. S. Class System: A Critique of the Dual-Career Family Analysis

Abstract

The concept of the 'dual-career family' enjoys remarkable popularity in sociological discussions of the impact of continued growth in adult women's employment in the 1970s and 1980s. Robert and Rhona Rapoport coined the phrase in 1969, to signify their discovery among young, elite British couples of a new pattern of wife and husband aspiration to careers and domestic egalitarianism.l The Rapoports soon generalized their findings internationally: they projected the dual-career couples as the key social innovators of emerging 'post-industrial' societies.2 Their lead in dual-career family research has been pursued most enthusiastically by sociologists and social psychologists in the U.S A.3 Increasingly, the dual-career yardstick of achievement and innovation appears in discussions of sex roles, occupational advancement and the family not only in sociological literature, but also in popular media. This model of family success is emerging as an accepted cultural standard. It is used to evaluate the experience of all employed women (and often, housewives as well), male-female couples of all class positions, and all family-worklife arrangements. It is important to examine the adequacy of the theoretical framework established by Robert and Rhona Rapoport which has influenced subsequent research. Much of their conception of social change, family mobility, and class and gender relationships has shaped, and been elaborated by, the many U.S. dual-career case studies. Their conception can be summarized: first, the types of careers