Richardson,
Laurel. 1988. Secrecy and Status: The social Construction of Forbidden
Relationships. American Sociological
Review 53:209-219.
The
quality of the adulterous liaison:
·
According to De Rougemont
(1956) In the West nearly synonymous with passion (210)
·
Uniquely intimate
·
Time is short and
special, no one wants to mess it up
·
Because of the
nonnormative standard, anomie arises. This
is countered by creation of imbuing rites and objects.
·
Problem; there is a catch
22 situation: Especially as a man you are expected to have an extramarital
affairs to demonstrate your manlyhood. However, if you have one, you are a sinner or pig.
·
Is there still a double
moral standard? As a man you should, but not as a women.
Sample:
Open
ended interviewing of 65 single women about their affairs with married men.
Interesting
snowball sample:
·
"First, whenever I
attended a public or social occasion, I mentioned the project, and women, I met
in these settings volunteered to be interviewed.
·
Second, a respondent
would occasionally suggest other potential interviewees.
·
Third, women hearing of
this project requested to be interviewed.(p.211).
General
prevalence
suggested by prior research of Richardson (1986) and others:
·
18 to 32 % of single
women become involved with a married man.
·
50% of husbands and 35%
of women have extramarital affairs.
Richardson's
interpretation of power:
"Interactionally,
status differentials are power differentials"(p.209).
ð
status and power
generally are independent dimensions, even in interactions. Some cultures
actually
"It
is popular belief that the "other women" has the most potential power
because she can destroy the man's whole life b revealing the affair.
For
potential power to be actual power, however, it has to be recognized and
exercised"(p.213).
ð
Emerson: if you use it
you loose it
ð
Richardson implicitly
rejects the idea that the power is recognized by the man (because he is supposed
to be more powerful in the first place).
Marriage
and Status
·
has greater prestige and
structural support, and, consequently, greater relationship power than
singlehood.
·
"If a status of one
of the parties in a secret, sexual
liaison is given priority, the relationship is constructed to protect that
person. Subsequently, that person will have greater control over the
relationship's construction"(p.217).
·
"Married women
involved with single men should enjoy greater power in their liaisons than
single women with married men"(p.217).
·
However, marital status
does not overwrite gender differences.
"Secret
relationships protect the interest of those with the greater status and power -
the married man (women) rather than the single women (man), the doctor rather
than the patient, the adult rather than the child"(p.218).
Secrecy reinforces and perpetuates the interests of the powerful. Secrecy
means power.
ó
Yes, but Richardson's can only come to this conclusion if he assumes that the
single person in the adulterous affair has no sufficient threat.
Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider2/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2005 Andreas Schneider