Overview

'The women speak frankly and honestly...Mrs. Sidel feels that...writing about working-class women is flawed by the upper-middle-class biases of the investigators. It is hard to spot any bias in these direct exposures of attitudes and convictions' - Doris Grumbach, ""New York Times Book Review"". 'Sidel's in-depth portraits convey an empathy with these women and a total understanding of their situation that made me feel like I was inside their private world. ""Urban Survival"" is a very important book' - Joyce A. Ladner, author of ""Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman"".Although conditions have vastly improved since the days of sweatshops, the working woman is still likely to be underpaid, overworked, and without adequate resources. In ""Urban Survival"" eight working-class women of different ages and races speak with pride and independence about their daily reality, their hopes and fears.Ruth Sidel's new introduction shows that although she interviewed the women in the late seventies, their concerns are still current. Now, as then, the working woman worries about obtaining needed childcare, healthcare, and social services; about being the last hired and first fired; about welfare, drugs, and violence. The oral histories in ""Urban Survival"" reveal a vivid picture of the struggle for survival in today's cities. Ruth Sidel is the author of ""Battling Bias: The Struggle for Identity and Community on College Campuses""; ""Women and Children Last: The Plight of Poor Women in Affluent America""; and ""On Her Own: Growing Up in the Shadow of the American Dream"". She is a professor of sociology at Hunter College, CUNY.

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Reviews

The women speak frankly and honestly. . . . Mrs. Sidel feels that . . . writing about working-class women is flawed by the upper-middle-class biases of the investigators. It is hard to spot any bias in these direct exposures of attitudes and convictions. -- Doris Grumbach New York Times Book Review

Sidel's in-depth portraits convey an empathy with these women and a total understanding of their situation that made me feel like I was inside their private world. Urban Survival is a very important book. --Joyce A. Ladner, author of Tomorrow's Tomorrow: The Black Woman --Joyce A. Ladner

A clear case of over-claim and under-investigation. The eight, yes, eight women whom Sidel interviewed are presumed to speak for all working class women; and with so small a number, her attempts at representativeness (ages range from 23 to 68, jobs from clerical to millinery; all marital options are represented, as are five ethnic groups) broach the absurd. Because of Sidel's proclaimed fascination with the fabric of their lives, their wishes and dreams, their fears and tragedies, we are supposed to be similarly interested in Diane, a young blonde addicted to drugs and to men, or in Elinor, a black woman whose major conflict involves whether to go back to work or take on a foster child. Sidel describes her attempts to avoid exploiting these women, including her decisions not to probe issues that might cause considerable pain and to let the women themselves edit the manuscript. The result is that potentially revealing sentiments remain buried. Frances, a widow and educational assistant, is never challenged to explain her antagonism toward a co-worker whom she dismisses as pig-headed, or to address what must be conflicting feelings as she anticipates her only son's moving out to marry. When Rose O'Rourke recalls working for the lovely people in the lovely big apartment, never is she questioned as to how lovely it was to scrub her way through the Depression. Missing throughout is the author shaping the material instead of merely recording it. The conclusions are equally bland: Work plays a central role in these women's lives. The social services are enormously complex and chaotic. Medical care is impersonal. Touching and true, but not news. Indeed, compared to other recent studies of working-class women at home (Lillian Rubin, Worlds of Pain) or on the job (Louise Kapp Howe, Pink Collar Workers), this is a poor show all the way. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Ruth Sidel is the author of Battling Bias: The Struggle for Identity and Community on College Campuses; Women and Children Last: The Plight of Poor Women in Affluent America; and On Her Own: Growing Up in the Shadow of the American Dream. She is a professor of sociology at Hunter College, CUNY.

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