This dissertation investigates the marital power relationships displayed among men and women from the Northern Mexican cities of Monterrey and Ciudad Juarez. I address five questions: (1) what is the influence of women's employment status on power decision-making? (2) are power relationships changing between generations? (3) what are the power processes displayed? (4) are women more powerful than men in some arenas, sites, or times? and (5) who has control over resources, the power to define roles, positions, and the right to make and enact decisions? The literature of familial power began with the study of American couples by Blood and Wolfe (1960). They analyze the influence of characteristics and resources (e.g., age, socioeconomic status) and the patterns of decision-making in specific areas (e.g., husband's choice of car). However, most studies have shown some theoretical and methodological weaknesses. The definition of power overlooks power as the ability to influence someone. Second, there is a misunderstanding of how and why decisions are made. Third, most studies have only interviewed wives because it is more convenient (McDonald, 1980). Finally, most studies have defined power from a Western point of view The participants in this study were a non-representative purposive sample of low-income men and women. I conducted 46 in-depth interviews to describe differences of power process (manifest, latent, and invisible) across generations, gender, and occupational status. Additionally, I used a standardized questionnaire to obtain general demographic information and quantitative measure of decision-making and household division of labor I found that women's employment status influences the patterns of decision-making at home. Employed women were more likely to use manifest power to challenge their husband's power. However, women's employment in itself does not represent a real resource if a woman or/and her husband do not give meaning to that resource. There were generational differences in the patterns of decision-making. I could not find meaningful differences between the two regions; regional differences were only important in people's perception of women's norms and values. Men's and women's strategies varied across the different areas of decision-making. Finally, mothers' support influences daughter's patterns of decision-making / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_24177 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Contributors | Ramos-Tovar, Maria Elena (Author), Brayfield, April (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
Page generated in 0.0014 seconds