#ThanksForTyping … and the fieldwork: the role of sociologists’ wives in classic British studies
#ThanksForTyping … and the fieldwork: the role of sociologists’ wives in classic British studies
This article explores the role of social researchers’ wives in post-war British studies, in particular drawing on the diaries kept by the wives of two noted sociologists while their husbands, Peter Willmott and Dennis Marsden, were respectively undertaking studies in the working class communities of Bethnal Green and Salford. The wives – Phyllis Willmott and Pat Marsden, made contributions to the community studies in the mid 1950s/early 1960s, at the point where British sociology and social research was on the cusp of transition towards formalisation and professionalisation. The wives were co-opted into the academic endeavour. Their practices as part of their family lives became professionalised as they undertook knowledge gathering, bridging between community and scholarship for their husbands, and reflecting on their own practice. The paper enables contemporary social researchers to recognise the part played by the wives of major sociological figures in the establishment of the men’s reputations and the disciplinary enterprise of sociology.
academic wives, British community studies, incorporated wives, Pat Marsden, Phyllis Willmott, wives’ diaries
Edwards, Rosalind
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Gillies, Val
ca51ea17-1bdf-457a-b51d-ab0c39aaa26e
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Gillies, Val
ca51ea17-1bdf-457a-b51d-ab0c39aaa26e
Edwards, Rosalind and Gillies, Val
(2024)
#ThanksForTyping … and the fieldwork: the role of sociologists’ wives in classic British studies.
Serendipities: Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences.
(In Press)
Abstract
This article explores the role of social researchers’ wives in post-war British studies, in particular drawing on the diaries kept by the wives of two noted sociologists while their husbands, Peter Willmott and Dennis Marsden, were respectively undertaking studies in the working class communities of Bethnal Green and Salford. The wives – Phyllis Willmott and Pat Marsden, made contributions to the community studies in the mid 1950s/early 1960s, at the point where British sociology and social research was on the cusp of transition towards formalisation and professionalisation. The wives were co-opted into the academic endeavour. Their practices as part of their family lives became professionalised as they undertook knowledge gathering, bridging between community and scholarship for their husbands, and reflecting on their own practice. The paper enables contemporary social researchers to recognise the part played by the wives of major sociological figures in the establishment of the men’s reputations and the disciplinary enterprise of sociology.
Text
WivesDiariesProject4+
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 February 2024
Keywords:
academic wives, British community studies, incorporated wives, Pat Marsden, Phyllis Willmott, wives’ diaries
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 487544
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/487544
ISSN: 2521-0947
PURE UUID: a201bcd4-1c7d-4949-8d6d-3112fa2b74bc
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Date deposited: 23 Feb 2024 17:32
Last modified: 23 Mar 2024 05:01
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Contributors
Author:
Val Gillies
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