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Politics, Work and Family: Gendered Forms of Mobilisation of Working-Class Women in Southern France

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09639489.2012.665574

1469-9869

Alexandra Oeser, Fanny Tourraille,

Social Policies and Family

Abstract In 2008, the Molex company announced the closure of its French site at Villemur-sur-Tarn. The 283 workers then began a long struggle to save their jobs but failed to prevent their redundancy. This article analyses the ways in which gender influences men's and women's capacity to resist when faced with the brutality of redundancy and the loss of social bonds that follows job loss. Studying gendered configurations within the factory, the context of the strike, and workers' families, it puts forward a rereading of the work of Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, and Zeisel on the unemployed of Marienthal and of the work of Durkheim on suicide that is inflected by the theoretical advances developed by gender studies, notably concerning the conception of 'work' as a vector of social integration. Considering domestic tasks and political commitment as forms of labour, it argues for a triangulated analysis of work, political mobilisation and the family, three spheres that generate the social bond, in a way which moves us beyond the classic division between public and private and allows us to track in finer detail the effects of the crisis on a social group, the workers, too often considered as homogenous (and male). En 2008, l'entreprise Molex annonce la fermeture du site français de Villemur-sur-Tarn. Les 283 salariés entament alors une longue lutte pour leurs emplois mais échouent à empêcher le licenciement. L'article analyse la manière dont les rapports de genre influencent les possibilités de résistance de ces hommes et de ces femmes face à la violence du licenciement et à la perte de lien social consécutive à la perte d'emploi. À travers l'étude des configurations genrées au sein de l'usine, de la grève et des familles ouvrières, il propose une relecture des travaux de Jahoda, Lazarsfeld, et Zeisel sur les chômeurs de Marienthal et de Durkheim sur le suicide au prisme des avancées théoriques offertes par les gender studies, notamment en ce qui concerne la définition du 'travail' conçu comme vecteur d'intégration sociale. En considérant les tâches domestiques et l'engagement militant comme des formes de travail, il plaide pour une analyse croisée des trois sphères génératrices de lien social que sont le travail, la mobilisation politique et la famille, permettant de dépasser la division classique entre sphère privée et publique et d'appréhender plus finement les effets de la crise sur un groupe social, les travailleurs, trop généralement considéré comme groupe indifférencié (et masculin). Notes [1] The research, financed by the Laboratoire des Sciences Sociales du Politique (LaSSP), the Centre d'études pour l'emploi (CEE) and the Agence nationale de Recherche (ANR), involves researchers from the Institut d'Études Politiques of Toulouse, the University of Lille 1 and the University of Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense; doctoral students of the University of Toulouse 1 and of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) Paris as well as two groups (2009–2011) of Masters students, from the MA in Sociology of Political Representations and Culture (SoPoReC) of the IEP Toulouse. Apart from the authors of the current article, the following participated in the research: Olivier Baisnée, Charles Berthonneau, Anne Bory, Bérénice Crunel, Éric Darras, Thilbault Defrance, Louise Douziech, Colline Ellouz, Thilbault Gandaries, Omar Haffaf, Joao Quaresma, Christelle Lazareno, Fanny Parent, Olivier Philippe, Lucille Quiniou, Audrey Rouger, Yohan Selponi. [2] Based on field notes by Alexandra Oeser, Fanny Tourraille, Lucille Quiniou and Colline Ellouz in September 2010. We particularly wish to thank the two cohorts (2009–2010 and 2010–2011) of Masters students at SoPoReC, who accompanied us in the field and participated in this research. Unless otherwise indicated, the interviews and notes cited are those produced by the two authors. [3] In his preface to the 1982 edition of the french translation, Pierre Bourdieu assigned the principal authorship to Paul Lazarsfeld, who only wrote the introduction while his ex-wife, Marie Jahoda, wrote the major report. [4] For a criticism of this position see Friot (2010 Friot, Bernard. 2010. L'Enjeu des retraites, Paris: La Dispute. [Google Scholar]). [5] Writing in 1984, Baudelot and Establet note that 'le taux de chômage ne semble pas agir directement sur le suicide: il n'exerce son influence qu'au travers du milieu primaire où se trouvent insérés les individus, la famille en particulier. Le chômage peut contribuer à désintégrer la structure familiale de même que la solidarité des liens familiaux peut constituer un rempart efficace contre les difficultés économiques et protéger ses membres d'un geste de désespoir' (1984/2002, 107). Nevertheless, the same authors attribute an important role to unemployment in the explanation of the spectacular growth in suicide among young people (2006 Baudelot, Christian and Establet, Roger. 2006. Suicide, l'envers de notre monde, Paris: Éditions du Seuil. [Google Scholar], 135–44). [6] Sociology of work and gender studies have shown that women spend twice as much time per day doing domestic work as men (Genevois 2008 Genevois, Anne-Sophie. 2008. Partage des tâches domestiques et familiales au sein des couples. Population & Emploi, : 1–4. [Google Scholar]); that 80% of the 'hard core' of this work (shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, washing up, material care of children) is done by women (Avalga 2002 Avalga, Élisabeth. 2002. Quel temps pour les activités parentales?. Études et résultats, : 1–12. [Google Scholar]; Puech 2005 Puech, Isabelle. 2005. "Le non-partage du travail domestique". In Femmes, genre et sociétés, l'état des savoirs, Edited by: Maruani, Margaret. 176–183. Paris: La Découverte. [Google Scholar]). [7] The official name for the restructuring plan is Plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi (job retention plan). [8] We worked with the numbers given by Sodie, the re-employment agency, which has information for 276 of a total of 283 redundant employees; there is therefore a margin of error for seven individuals not registered with Sodie. Of the 276 registered, 56 are women. [9] In the documentary Molex, des gens debout filmed by José Alcala in 2008–2009, many women can be seen in scenes showing demonstrations or picketing (documentary shown on ARTE, 28 January 2011). [10] Observation notes, June and September 2010. [11] Informal conversation with a member of the association's bureau, April 2011. [12] Nadine, 50 years old, secretary. Interview, September 2010. [13] The North American concept of care has been imported into France and criticised there, notably for its association with female labour, by Molinier, Laugier and Paperman (2009 Molinier, Pascale, Laugier, Sandra and Paperman, Patricia. 2009. Qu'est-ce que le care? Soucis des autres, sensibilité, responsabilité, Paris: Payot. [Google Scholar]). [14] Francine, 40 years old, cabling and quality control worker. Interview, March 2010. [15] Observation notes, September 2010, Anne Bory. [16] From 2004–2009, of approximately 25 administrative employees, only one or two were men. Numbers from the Bilan social of Molex, Villemur-sur-Tarn, archives of the CE. [17] Monique, logistics office employee, notes, September 2010, Anne Bory. [18] Between 2004–2009, of approximately 160 workshop employees, 20 were women. Of 60 technicians, fewer than 10 were women. [19] Catherine, 45 years old, computing employee. Interview, February 2011. [20] Approximating to keeping aloof or being self-contained but also suggesting stubbornness applying one's own norms and beliefs while at the same time refering to a social activity in which the role of the peer-group is central; the concept of Eigensinn is difficult to translate, to the extent that all English versions of the author have kept the German. For a discussion of the concept in English, see Lüdtke (1986 Lüdtke, Alf. 1986. "Cash, coffee-breaks, horseplay: Eigensinn and politics among factory workers in Germany circa 1900". In Confrontation, class consciousness and the labor process, Edited by: Hanagan, Michael and Stephenson, Charles. 65–95. New York: Greenwood Press. [Google Scholar], 1992 Lüdtke, Alf. 1992. Practicing Eigensinn. Workers beyond domination and resistance. Focaal (Nijmengen), : 16–35. [Google Scholar]). [21] See also Christian Corouge and Michel Pialoux (2011 Corouge, Christian and Pialoux, Michel. 2011. Résister à la chaîne. Dialogue entre un ouvrier de Peugeot et un sociologue, Paris: Agones. [Google Scholar]), specifically chapter 1. [22] Interview, June 2010. [23] Jean-Michel, 55 years old, maintenance cutting worker. Interview, March 2010. [24] Joseph, 50 years old, stock manager. Interview, March 2010 by Yohan Selponi and Charles Berthonneau. [25] Arnaud, 50 years old, method maintenance manager, Alice's husband. Interview, March 2010 by Louize Douziech and Fanny Parent. [26] Raymonde, about 50 years old, invoice department employee. Interview, March 2010 by Louise Douziech and Fanny Parent. [27] About depression, see Saurel-Cubizolles (2004 Saurel-Cubizolles, Marie-Josèphe. 2004. "États de santé". In Femmes, genre et sociétés, l'état des savoirs, Edited by: Maruani, Margaret. 122–31. Paris: La Découverte. [Google Scholar]). [28] Interview, March 2010 by Louise Douziech and Fanny Parent. [29] Informal conversation with Pierre, still member of the association, April 2011. [30] Informal conversation, June 2010. [31] Interview with an employee of Sodie, June 2010.