Join our Email List Berghahn Books Logo

berghahn New York · Oxford

Browse All Books
The Pleasure of a Surplus Income: Part-Time Work, Gender Politics, and Social Change in West Germany, 1955-1969

View Table of Contents


Series
Volume 6

Studies in German History



See Related
History Journals

Email Newsletters

Sign up for our email newsletters to get customized updates on new Berghahn publications.

Click here to select your preferences

The Pleasure of a Surplus Income

Part-Time Work, Gender Politics, and Social Change in West Germany, 1955-1969

Christine von Oertzen
Translated from the German by Pamela Selwyn

250 pages, bibliog., index

ISBN  978-1-84545-179-0 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Published (April 2007)


View CartYour country: - edit Recommend to your LibraryAvailable in GOBI®

Reviews

"... the level of detail of this fine-grained analysis is clearly the book’s strength... Offering new insights into the dynamics of gender relations, employment and social change, its implications extend beyond the German context. Especially the methodological approach, combining the analysis of official documents, discourses and motivations with labour market statistics, case studies and qualitative interview material is convincing and inspirational."  ·  Sociology

“Von Oertzen's study is essential reading for any scholar interested in postwar women's history. Her work is a model for historians using social history to investigate continuity and change in gender roles, both at the political and popular level. The wide range of archival sources at the basis of her arguments makes them convincing…her work provides scholars, teachers, and students a fascinating glimpse into the grassroots, daily reality in which feminism was actualized for women in the postwar world.”  ·  H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online

"...a fascinating account... drawing on a dizzying range of sources from the archives of local labor offices and a number of firms ... a fine book."   ·  Central European History

"Christine von Oertzen’s study sets high standards for future social-historical examination of female labor."  ·  Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte

"[This] excellent monograph... ends with an impressive comparative overview of part-time work in the FRG and the GDR."  ·  The American Historical Review

Description

Published in Association with the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.

At a time when part-time jobs are ubiquitous, it is easy to forget that they are a relatively new phenomenon. This book explores the reasons behind the introduction of this specific form of work in West Germany and shows how it took root, in both norm and law, in factories, government authorities, and offices as well as within families and the lives of individual women. The author covers the period from the early 1950s, a time of optimism during the first postwar economic upswing, to 1969, the culmination of the legislative institutionalization of part-time work.

Christine von Oertzen is a Research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Before joining the MPI in June 2005, she was a Fellow at the German Historical Institute, Washington, DC

Subject: History (General)History: 20th Century to PresentGender Studies and Sexuality
Area: Germany


Contents

Back to Top



Library Recommendation Form

Dear Librarian,

I would like to recommend The Pleasure of a Surplus Income Part-Time Work, Gender Politics, and Social Change in West Germany, 1955-1969 for the library. Please include it in your next purchasing review with my strong recommendation. The RRP is: $135.00

I recommend this title for the following reasons:

BENEFIT FOR THE LIBRARY: This book will be a valuable addition to the library's collection.

REFERENCE: I will refer to this book for my research/teaching work.

STUDENT REFERRAL: I will regularly refer my students to the book to assist their studies.

OWN AFFILIATION: I am an editor/contributor to this book or another book in the Series (where applicable) and/or on the Editorial Board of the Series, of which this volume is part.