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In Search of Mesostructure in the Family: An Interactionist Approach to Division of Labor
Author(s) -
Pestello Frances G.,
Voydanoff Patricia
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1991.14.2.105
Subject(s) - merge (version control) , division of labour , sociology , temporality , symbolic interactionism , context (archaeology) , epistemology , social science , computer science , political science , law , philosophy , information retrieval , paleontology , biology
This paper demonstrates the importance of the concept of mesostructure for understanding how families create and enact a gendered division of labor. The work of symbolic interactionists, especially those using the negotiated order perspective, is used to examine linkages and processes of articulation between the public and private worlds. Mesostructure provides a conceptual device for examining how men and women merge their respective activities within the context of social constraints. Six interlinked concepts developed by Hall (1987)—collective activity, network, conventions‐practices, resources‐power, processuality‐temporality, and grounding—form the foundation for a mesostructural analysis of family division of labor. These concepts are used to explicate the interaction of structure and process in gender division of labor in families.