Work and family life

Abstract

The research carried out looks at the interaction within and between four independent variables: Social Class, Organisation in which the subjects worked, Sex and Unconscious Sexual Identity of husbands and wives of stable families. These variables are related to Work, Spouses and Children. The 12 dependent variables are the dimensions which seem the most relevant to coding the individual's identity or subjective character. They are Affiliation, Aggression, Autonomy, Dominance, Identification, Nurturance, Responsibility, Security, Self-Confidence, Sharing and Succourance. Forty couples are divided into four groups: Male/female; Middle-class/Working-class; entrepreneurial/bureaucratic; masculine/feminine. Data collection includes a projective-semi-structured questionnaire, an unstructured test requiring subjects-to draw and a demographic questionnaire. The results reveal that husbands have significantly higher scores than wives on Achievement, Dominance, Responsibility and Security, and significantly lower scores oil Autonomy, Identification, Nurturance and Self-Confidence. Subjects in the Middle class make significantly more references than those in the working class to Achievement, Autonomy, Dominance, Identification, Self-Confidence and Sharing, and significantly less references to Affiliation, Aggression and Security. Entrepreneurs have significantly higher scores than bureaucrats on Achievement, Autonomy, Dominance, Responsibility and Self-Confidence and significantly lower scores on Affiliation, Security, Nurturance and Succourance. Subjects who come within the masculine range as measured by the Franck Test, make significantly more references than those who come within the feminine range to Aggression and Dominance, and significantly less references to Affiliation, Nurturance, Self-Confidence, Sharing and Succourance. There is a significant inter-action between Social Class and Organisation on Aggression, Autonomy, Dominance, Nurturance, Self-Confidence and Sharing. There is significant interaction between Sex and Unconscious Sexual Identity on Affiliation, Aggression, Autonomy, Identification and Self-Confidence. There is also a significant interaction between Sex and Social Class on Achievement, Aggression and Security.