In many other societies adult activities are either not so
vulnerable to adult-child differences in behavioral norms,
or the lines between family-sphere and professional/labor sphere
are not constructed in ways that make this tension so palpable
and consuming as it is in our society. I don't think we should
forget that our difficulties with this issue are quite recent
ones, and partly the product of changes in traditional family
structures, women's social roles, the odd position of middle-class
values as somewhere in limbo between upper-class ones (ship the
kids off) and working-class ones (mom will do it) that had plenty
of time to evolve consistently with the rest of the relevant
practices. The US is probably still in the vanguard of the
intersection of all these changes, and the problems seem to most
dog families which live on the painful point of the intersection.
Bless the pioneers, but envy them not. JAY.
JAY LEMKE.
City University of New York.
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