Sunday, September 6, 2009
Thoughts on Karin Hausen's Article
I found Hausen's article on technical progress and women's labour to be very interesting. Hausen discusses the invention of the sewing machine and its effect on Germany's labor and social stratospheres. She focuses on mainly two topics: the move away from handmade production to capitalistic production and the effect on women's social/work roles. I love the way Hausen proceeds with this essay beginning with an outline of the history of the sewing machine and its evolution. Not just the invention itself, but also the way techniques were developed to sell the product and make it marketable to all social classes. Also, the way in which the sewing machine becomes important in the production of goods, specifically clothes, which is her main focus, really makes one understand the value and necessity of the sewing machine in the progression of the labor industry with regards to industrialization. However, the spin she takes on the sewing machine is geared to its effect on women's labor and the way they managed these changes, specifically working at home. However, this transition into the home from factories for lower class working women did not create a desirable return on their efforts. They in fact made less money because of the overall cost of the sewing machine over paying it off for a two year period, buying their own yarn and machine oil, and costly repairs. The argument she makes is opposing the traditional view that this transition of labor into the home released some of the burden for women. She argues that this transition in fact caused more hindrance in that now they were solely responsible for raising the children and working in the home for supplemental income, while the husbands were now in the factories. Her argument is flawlessy delivered and gives good supporting evidence to back up it up. The only part that was a little hazy was her reasoning that the middle class women were working to keep up appearances. This new information she presents is kind of thrown into a much stronger argument that would have been better off without. My only reasoning for this is that Hausen does not fully develop the evidence and reasoning for the inclusion for this particular case. Overall, I really enjoyed the article and thought it was well presented.
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i agree that Hausen's article was a very well presented and engaging argument that does a lot to delve into the (knit)ty gritty [pun intended] of social realities in germany in the second half of the 19th century. I like how you broke down her presentation into what she actually did - gave us the history of the machine first, got us interested, and then spoke in detail about all the consequences and effects.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your analysis. The article does a fantastic job of showing how burden was not lifted off of women but instead increased, by bringing the sewing machine into the home. I also found the part about middle class women attempting to keep up their appearance shaky at best. Maybe some statistically data showing a shrinking middle class would have aided in this.
ReplyDeleteA great summary and commentary on Hausen's article. Her emphasis on how this technological change impacted the female labor market is a part of why I chose this article. However, I did like how she discussed the increasing need for middle class women to perform 'hidden work' in order to secure their standing. While she could have strengthened her presentation of this point, her argument is in keeping with the broader study of women's and family history in the 19th century so I have no reason to doubt her assertions. She does show how status mattered to people in her discussion of how women of particular class often tried to keep their purchase secret and by how the acknowledgement of the purchase of a sewing machine by middle class women could be used as a selling point.
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