Conjugal Roles and Ethnicity in Four Finnish-American Families

[摘要] The purpose of this research project is to examine conjugal roles and ethnicity in four contemporary Finnish-American families. If both husband and wife or either husband or wife are from Finnish descent, the family is considered to be a Finnish-American family. These four families are selected from a Finnish-American organization called the ;;Friends of Finland;;, which meets at the International Institute in Flint, Michigan. I am also a member of this group myself, which fact will hopefully to make my informants feel comfortable during the interviews. The discussion about conjugal roles has been narrowed down to the question: Are conjugal roles segregated or joint in these four Finnish-American families? The justification for examining conjugal roles can be found, for example, in Gary L. Bowen;;s and Dennis K. Orthner;;s study about ;;Sex-Role Congruency and Marital Quality,;; in which they state that many forces— including the changing demographic and role profiles of women, changes in the structure of the family, and the considerable publicity accorded sex-role issues in the press— have contributed to the increased salience and importance of sex roles in today;;s society (Bowen and Orthner, 1933:223-224).

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] conjugal roles

[关键词] Finnish-Americans;conjugal roles;complementary organization;independent organization;joint organization;Liberal Studies