Catherine T. Harris

Gender and Work Values: Survey Findings from a Working-Class Sample.

Traditional propositions concerning gender roles and work values are tested, investigating empirical connections between work values and other variables such as marital status, parenting responsibilities, and age. Both men and women were most likely to select two intrinsic work values—chance to learn new things and chance to use skills and abilities. Women were more likely than men to select a high number of intrinsic values. Male-female differences in work values were found to be situational. The presence of children seemed to heighten sex differences in this working-class sample, particularly in the salience of intrinsic work values for women. Women with children were in the category most likely to select a high number of intrinsic and extrinsic work values.

Empirical Perspectives on Mediation and Malpractice

Mediated settlement conferences are new to North Carolina. I feel confident that this procedure will be cost effective in the long run and I appreciate your efforts to make it successful. Although this case did not settle, I hope that it helped you and your insured assess the strength of your case and streamline the preparation for trial. It is also possible that the conference will serve as a basis for settlement efforts prior to trial.

Modern Women and the Dynamics of Social Psychological Ambivalence

Because gender roles are rapidly changing, a more dynamic conceptualization of role is especially needed. Working toward this end, we build on the contributions of scholars such as Merton and Barber (1963), Rossi (1972), Bardwick and Douvan (1971), Komarovsky (1973a, 1973b), and Room (1976); develop two pivotal concepts, social psychological ambivalence and developmental alienation; and interpret current findings on the changing roles of women. Conflicts contemporary women may face because they are attracted to opposing values also are explored. One challenge for future researchers will be to clarify the situational factors that link ambivalence on the individual (i.e., psychological) level to structural or sociological ambivalence and to collective social action.

College students and blue‐collar workers: A comparative analysis of sex‐role attitudes

According to the research literature, college‐educated women provide the most consistent support for nontraditional sex‐role attitudes. Conversely, working‐class males are supposedly the most ambivalent toward changes in gender roles. The present study involves a direct comparison of the attitudes of two different samples: one employed in blue‐collar occupations and the other enrolled in a small, private university. Some of the responses to an eleven‐item scale of sex‐role attitudes are consistent with the results of previous research. For example, women are generally more nontraditional than men. However, most surprising is the finding that male college students are the most conservative subgroup included in this study. By the senior year of college, students have become more liberal, but the “gender gap” persists. Parents’ educational status and fathers’ occupational status are statistically significant variables for female but not for male students. The authors conclude that the uncertain but dynamic r...

The Artist and Androgyny: A Study of Gender Identity in Visual Artists

While art is an activity that is socially valued, the image of the artist as perceived by the public and expressed in the literature has rarely been studied empirically. The Adjective Check List is used to test one dimension of this issue—June Waynes hypothesis that the artist is a stereotypical woman, focusing on the artists view of himself/herself and artists in general. Data were gathered by means of a questionnaire mailed to 1753 artists who had been nominated for the national Awards in Visual Arts during the first five years of the program (1982–86). It was found that artists tend to have self-images which are androgynous in terms of sex stereotyping, while at the same time, they see artists in general as relatively masculine. It was also found that while artists tend to view their colleagues in favorable terms, they view themselves as individual artists significantly more favorably. The implications of these findings for the profession of art are discussed.

Artists and Scientists: An Analysis of Marital Status and Stability

The authors hypothesize higher degrees of role ambivalence for female artists and scientists than for male artists, and especially male scientists. Likewise, they predict that female professionals in this sample are less likely to marry or to have stable marriages than male professionals. However, contrary to these predictions, male artists are more similar to female professionals than to male scientists, and female scientists were not characterized by the highest divorce rates. In fact, female scientists were less likely to be divorced or separated than male artists. In short, male artists represent the greatest departure from the patterns observed by other researchers. The analysis concludes with a comprehensive review of factors which may be useful in explaining the striking differences between male scientists and male artists with respect to marital status and stability.