Modernity and the Communicative Management of Multiple Roles: The Case of the Worker-Parent

Abstract

This study explores the relations among interpersonal communication, self-identity, and conditions of modernity in the context of work and parenting. The conceptualization of role construction as communicative process is an extension of the idea that social reality, which includes social and personal identity, is created through human interaction. Conditions of modernity intensify individuals' experience of self-identity as constructed rather than given, and heighten the constitutive function of interpersonal communication with respect to the definition and maintenance of role-identities. The data for this study were obtained through in-depth interviews with 8 dual earner couples in the early stages of their first-time transition to parenthood. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory approach. Three primary elements of role construction emerged from the respondents' accounts. Three features of modernity that have special relevance to this process are delineated. Evidence from the accounts of the functioning of elements of role construction under conditions associated with modernity is presented.

The Female Breadwinner: Phenomenological Experience and Gendered Identity in Work/Family Spaces

“…First, participants expressed the independence they experienced and desired as tied to their perceptions and interpretations of the families and particularly the women around whom they grew up. Typically, they mentioned how they had been encouraged or found motivation to be independent and self-supporting from a young age, supporting other studies that have found that families of origin and particularly mothers have a large influence on women's work and family identity constructions (Golden 2001;Johnston et al 2008;Medved et al 2006). Many of them had seen negative consequences of women not having a sense of and the financial means to maintain their independence, and at least one participant had recently read Bennetts' (2007) book on the dangers of women lacking financial independence.…”

Moms Hating Moms: The Internalization of Mother War Rhetoric

“…Golden (2001) contended that the conditions of modernity, the rise in expert systems, the pluralization of our social worlds, and social learning through the mass media have made choosing a workermother identity more complex and stressful than ever before. The current cultural climate that pits mothers against mothers undermines all women and is not healthy for mothers or children.…”

“…The construction of identity, according to Berger and Luckmann (1966), involves both sociocultural influences and personal influences, such as the validation of others. Golden (2001), for example, noted the importance of affirmation of friends and family in the construction of workerparent identity. We know that social support in general has positive effects on psychological well-being (Van Willigen & Drentea, 2001), and lack of perceived support is associated with increased levels of stress and unhappiness (Deater-Deckard & Scarr, 1996).…”

“…Support from one's own mother is also important. Golden (2001) found that the single most important source for construction of worker-parent identity is family-of-origin, and Trees (2002) found that adult daughters seek support from their own mothers; this support is most likely to take the form of emotional and problem-focused support. In our own research, we found a more complex relationship of mother-daughter support (Johnston & Swanson, 2004c).…”

Good Working Mothers as Jugglers: A Critical Look at Two Work–Family Balance Films

“…Indeed, Medved (2010) shows the prominence of the social construction of gendered identities as a frequent focus of work-life scholarship (see also Kirby & Buzzanell, 2014), and Golden (2001) asserts successful work-family management is as much an identity issue as it is a time management issue. Further, Wieland (2010Wieland ( , 2011 articulates identity construction as a normative activity through which socially acceptable ideals/ideologies of who one should be (i.e., how a good worker or a good mother should look, act, and feel) are woven into an individual's understanding of who s/he is.…”