ABSTRACT
The importance of considering social class as well as gender is illustrated in this chapter. Ferree's summary of recent research focuses on how factory-employed women in Germany work with, through, and around domestic/public distinctions. The dilemma presented is that of being responsible for home and housework in a society that puts greater value on exchange-value or paid work. The research subjects in this case cope by staying "between [the] two worlds." This account of working women from their own point of view—a view that challenges researchers' middle-class conceptual distinctions—helps us understand why some women resist some aspects of feminist agendas—for example, the socialization of housework. The author's work shows her awareness of the contradictions that are internal to the lives of these women respondents as well as of those that exist between the views of working-class and middle-class women.
