The Parlour and the Suburb : Domestic Identities, Class, Femininity and Modernity

"The Parlour and the Suburb challenges stereotypes about domesticity with a reevaluation of women's roles in the 'private' sphere. Classic accounts of modernity have generally ignored or marginalized women, relegating them to the private sphere of home, sexuality and personal relationships. This private sphere has been understood as a gendered space in which a non-modern femininity is opposed to the masculine world of politics, economics, urban life and the workplace. The author argues, however, that home and private life have been crucial spaces in which the interrelations of class and gender have been significant in the formation of modern feminine subjectivitiesFocusing on the first half of the twentieth century, The Parlour and the Suburb examines how women experienced and understood the home and private life in light of modernity. It explores the identities and self-definitions that domesticity inscribed and shows how these were central to women's sense of themselves as 'modern' individuals. The book draws on a range of cultural texts and practices to explore aspects of domestic modernity that have received little attention in most accounts of modern subjectivities. Topics covered include suburbia, consumption practices, domestic service and the wartime figure of the housewife. Texts examined include a range of women's magazines, George Orwell's Coming up for Air, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, BBC Home Service's 'Help for Housewives' and oral history narratives. 'In this persuasively argued book Giles discusses the highly gendered nature of the concept of modernity which has, to date, marginalized the domestic space and women's traditional role as 'homemakers'. 'Stephanie Spencer, Literature & History'."--Bloomsbury Publishing

Classic accounts of modernity have generally ignored or marginalized women, relegating them to the private sphere of home, sexuality, and personal relationships. The Parlour and the Suburb argues, however, that home and private life have been significant in the formation of modern feminine identities. Twentieth-century women's studies tend to focus on middle-class women, but Giles includes working-class women throughout the book. Topics covered include domestic service, suburbia, consumption practices, and the wartime figure of the housewife. The author makes excellent use of oral history, women's magazines, radio, film, and newspapers to construct a readable narrative. The Parlour and the Suburb subverts the conventional equation of domesticity with tradition, showing how domestically minded women could also be modern. The result is a re-evaluation of women's roles in the private sphere.

Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Introduction......Page 11 1 ‘Something that Little Bit Better’: Suburban Modernity, Prudential Marriage and Self Improvement......Page 39 2 Help for Housewives Domestic Service......Page 75 3 Getting and Spending Identity and Consumption......Page 111 4 Legacies The Question of Home and Women’s Modernity......Page 151 Notes......Page 177 Bibliography......Page 185 Index......Page 197