The Cocktail Waitress: Women's Work in a Man's World - Softcover

James P. Spradley; Brenda J. Mann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1577665740 ISBN 13: 9781577665748

Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc, 2008

Synopsis

A 1975 classic, this highly readable, in-depth study examines a familiar female role in contemporary American society. The authors apply fieldwork methods to the study of social behavior in a college bar--as viewed from the perspective of cocktail waitresses. They describe in detail the day-to-day lives of women and the meaning of work for women in a man's world. Not a feminist tract, their book provides a wealth of empirical data on the nature of being female in our culture. The Cocktail Waitress examines female/male relationships as well as patterns of male dominance in social interaction, and shows how these are linked to more general issues in anthropology. The work teaches important social science concepts while always dealing with the college student's own world. Its objective presentation of the waitress casts light on significant social issues and the role of women in today's society, together with the manner in which female-male roles are interlocked.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Other works by James P. Spradley and available from Waveland Press: You Owe Yourself a Drunk: An Ethnography of Urban Nomads (ISBN 9781577660859 and The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society, Second Edition (with David W. McCurdy and Dianna J. Shandy) (ISBN 9781577663645).

From the Back Cover:

"Classic text in an excellent, easy-to-manage format. Students will find it very engaging." -- Katharine Keenan, CUNY, York College

About this edition

• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1577665740
• ISBN 13: 9781577665748
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160