Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1984 Women and Class: a Theoretical and Empirical Analysis (Stratification). Pamela Jean Jenkins Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Jenkins, Pamela Jean, "Women and Class: a Theoretical and Empirical Analysis (Stratification)." (1984). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 4019. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/4019 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8515143 Jenkins, Pamela Jean WOMEN AND CLASS: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical Col.Ph.D. 1984 University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road- Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1985 by Jenkins, Pamela Jean All Rights Reserved PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V 1. Glossy photographs or pages_____ 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print______ 3. Photographs with dark background_____ 4. Illustrations are poor co py______ 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy______ 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page_______ 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages 8. Print exceeds margin requirements ______ 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine_______ 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print______ 11. Page(s)____________ lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. Page(s)____________ seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages num bered . Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages______ 15. Dissertation contains pages with print at a slant, filmed as received_________ 16. Other ___ ____ __________ ___ University Microfilms International WOMEN AND CLASS: A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Sociology by Pamela J. Jenkins B.A., University of Tennessee, 1977 M.A., University of Northern Iowa, 1980 December, 1984 © 1985 PAMELA JEAN JENKINS All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my committee for its continued, long­ standing support. Although the committee has undergone significant changes over the years, there are...four members who have remained throughout: Dr. William W. Falk, Dr. Perry Howard, Dr. Michael D. Grimes, and Dr. Cecil Eubanks. William Falk, my chairman, has been wonderfully supportive and diligent throughout this process. Perry Howard continues to be an important source of information and support. I believe on several occasions that if it had not been for Michael Grimes and Cecil Eubanks, I would have abandoned this endeavor altogether. Their support and insights were and are invaluable. My thanks to Dr. Hart Nelsen, who, in many ways, is the best example of a role model that a new academic person might have. Dr. Mark Fossett, although a late addition to the committee, was an invaluable source of information. Fellow graduate students I would like to mention for their support and inspiration are Dr. Kevin Smith, Dr. George Lord, and Ms. Edith Batz. My special thanks to Brian Roth, who enabled me to work with the data necessary to do this project. And, also, I am grateful to the work of Reba Rosenbach, who, with good humor, spent hours typing and arranging this manuscript. I must also mention what I have come to call my dissertation support group composed of the staff, residents, and volunteers of the Battered Women's Program in Baton Rouge. They kept me connected to the ii other world and to the importance to them of my finishing. My special thanks to Barbara Davidson who spent hours doing graphs, tables and making sure I laughed. Finally, I would like to thank my family, Edmund and Robin. To Edmund, my husband, my editor and my best friend, I know there are no right words to say thank you, only affection. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES.................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES........................ vii ABSTRACT............................................................ xi CHAPTER ONE. Introduction....................................... 1 Locating the Issues in Time and Space....................... 2 Class Analysis............................................. 5 Women.......... 7 Statement of the Problem ................................... 8 Impetus for the Study....................................... 9 Organization of the Study..................................... 10 CHAPTER TWO. Marx and Weber........................................13 Introduction.......... 13 Marx and Social Class........................ 15 Class as an Ideal T y p e ........................................16 Descriptive Class.............................................. 24 Class as Consciousness................................ 25 Summary................ 26 Marx, Method and W o m e n ....................................... 27 Weber...................... 29 Class, Social Class and Private Property .................. 29 Status-Groups and Social Closure . ..................... 32 Conclusion.................................................... 35 CHAPTER THREE. Review of Current Literature................ 38 Introduction.................. 38 Class Analysis: A Typology................................... 39 Wright's Class Model ....................................... 53 The Working Class in Late Capitalism......................... 57 Structural Variables: Class and Economic Sector .......... 59 Class Relations Outside the Sphere of Production .......... 62 Productive and Unproductive Relations......................... 65 Women in the Class Structure................................. 69 I n c o m e ........................................................ 78 Research Propositions..........................................80 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page CHAPTER FOUR. Methods and Procedures ........................... 82 The Data and Sample............................................82 Operationalization of Theoretical Concepts .................. 83 Statistical Analysis ....................................... 92 CHAPTER FIVE. Analysis of the Class Models ..................... 95 Introduction ............................................... 95 Section One. Restriction of the Sample...................... 95 Section Two. Description of Class Models.................... 97 Section Three. A Descriptive ClassPicture. .......... 105 Section Four. Regression Analyses ........................ 143 Summary....................................................... 164 CHAPTER SIX. Conclusions ........................................ 171 Introduction........................................ 171 Summary of Empirical Findings................................ 173 Theoretical Implications ...................................