“Are We Alone?”

Qualitative Sociology -     

Mapping Invisible Work: Conceptual Tools for Social Justice Projects

Feminist scholars developed the concept of “invisible work” in the 1980s to bring sociological attention to work that was unpaid, unrecognized, or undervalued. Since then, it has become clear that the “generous” concept of work can be applied more broadly and that bringing invisible work into view may help to advance projects of social justice and inclusion. Drawing on the example of healthcare access for deaf patients, this article explores strategies for deploying the generous concept of work in institutional analysis.     

Producing Family Time: Practices of Leisure Activity Beyond the Home

Family life is conducted in public as well as at home, but the public aspect of family activity is seldom studied (a pattern that tends to reproduce privatized notions of family life). This observational study examines one site for public family activity, the community zoo. I show that visiting the zoo involves the group in a routinized activity that reinforces significant social boundaries, including those of family membership. Conceptually, the analysis identifies parental work practices—based on mostly implicit ideologies of family life—whose skills are treated at some moments as unremarkable and in other circumstances as key signifiers of good parenting. My aim is to bring into view the settings and circumstances within which parents pursue such activities with children, thereby illustrating an analytic approach that locates these practices within a broader social landscape.