Workshop to Office: Two Generations of Italian Women in New York City, 1900-1950

Description: Workshop to Office by Miriam Cohen Cohen examines shifting patterns in the family roles, work lives, and schooling of two generations of Italian-American women, paying particular attention to the importance of these womens pragmatic daily choices. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description In turn-of-the-century New York, Italian immigrant daughters spent their youth in factories while their mothers did irregular wage labor as well as domestic work at home. By the I940s, Italian-American girls were in school, socializing and preparing for white-collar jobs that would not begin until they were eighteen. Drawing on a range of sources from censuses to high school yearbooks, Miriam Cohen examines shifting patterns in the family roles, work lives, and schooling of two generations of Italian-American women. Paying particular attention to the importance of these womens pragmatic daily choices, she documents how major social and political changes helped create new opportunities and constraints for the second generation. While financial need was a powerful factor in determining the behavior of the first generation women, Cohen shows, they and their daughters succeeded in adapting family survival strategies to new work patterns. Once the second generation was married, their careers mirrored those of the first in many ways: they raised children, cared for the home, and took on paid employment when necessary.Unlike their mothers, however, these Italian-American wives could also participate in the growing consumerism surrounding home and childcare. Throughout, Cohen compares the changing Italian-American experience with that of Jewish women, discovering significant similarities in these experiences by 1950. As well as presenting a nuanced portrait of one group of ethnic working-class women, Workshop to Office demonstrates the impact of political developments on individual lives. It will spark lively debates among students and scholars of social history, immigration history, labor history, womens history, and the history of education in the United States. Review "Cohen joins scholars who seek to understand the role of gender in historical processes of group change...Through the lens of gender, she reveals important questions about the meaning of mobility in migration processes and the transformation of immigrant cultures."-Claire B. Potter, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Spring 1995 "Cohen has written a book that will be debated for years. Workshop to Office makes a valuable contribution to the growing study of Italian immigration and womens history."-Gary R. Mormino, Journal of American History, September 1994 "A significant contribution to the literature on immigration, women and work. Cohen takes on a major controversy-whether the immigrant experience in America was framed by the terms of modernization-and moves beyond these arguments to explore the role of experience in the lives of ltalian immigrants. She suggests that pragmatic, day-to-day decisions made in the context of changing socio-economic conditions, not the effort to either preserve or negate patriarchal values, dominated their lives. Cohens position is unique and important, and the strength of her argument derives from an impressive data base drawn from two generations."-Alice Kessler-Harris, Rutgers University Long Description In turn-of-the-century New York, Italian immigrant daughters spent their youth in factories while their mothers did irregular wage labor as well as domestic work at home. By the I940s, Italian-American girls were in school, socializing and preparing for white-collar jobs that would not begin until they were eighteen. Drawing on a range of sources from censuses to high school yearbooks, Miriam Cohen examines shifting patterns in the family roles, work lives, and schooling of two generations of Italian-American women. Paying particular attention to the importance of these womens pragmatic daily choices, she documents how major social and political changes helped create new opportunities and constraints for the second generation. While financial need was a powerful factor in determining the behavior of the first generation women, Cohen shows, they and their daughters succeeded in adapting family survival strategies to new work patterns. Once the second generation was married, their careers mirrored those of the first in many ways: they raised children, cared for the home, and took on paid employment when necessary. Unlike their mothers, however, these Italian-American wives could also participate in the growing consumerism surrounding home and childcare. Throughout, Cohen compares the changing Italian-American experience with that of Jewish women, discovering significant similarities in these experiences by 1950. As well as presenting a nuanced portrait of one group of ethnic working-class women, Workshop to Office demonstrates the impact of political developments on individual lives. It will spark lively debates among students and scholars of social history, immigration history, labor history, womens history, and the history of education in the United States. Review Quote "Cohen joins scholars who seek to understand the role of gender in historical processes of group change. . . .Through the lens of gender, she reveals important questions about the meaning of mobility in migration processes and the transformation of immigrant cultures."-Claire B. Potter, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Spring 1995 Details ISBN0801480051 Author Miriam Cohen Short Title WORKSHOP TO OFFICE Publisher Cornell University Press Language English ISBN-10 0801480051 ISBN-13 9780801480058 Media Book Year 1993 Imprint Cornell University Press Subtitle Two Generations of Italian Women in New York City, 1900-1950 Place of Publication Ithaca Country of Publication United States Format Paperback Residence US Birth 1926 Illustrations 11 halftones DOI 10.1604/9780801480058 UK Release Date 1993-04-22 AU Release Date 1993-04-22 NZ Release Date 1993-04-22 US Release Date 1993-04-22 Pages 256 Publication Date 1993-04-22 Alternative 9780801427220 DEWEY 974.7100451 Audience Undergraduate We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:159355853;

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