(PDF) Social relationships in locality and livelihood: The embeddedness of rural economic restructuring* 1

Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 2(13-219, 1998 © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Pergamon Printed in Great Britain (1743-0167/98 $19.0(I + 0.0() PII: S0743-0167(97)00037-5 Social Relationships in Locality and Livelihood: The Embeddedness of Rural Economic Restructuring* Leann M. Tigges,* Ann Ziebarth* and Jennifer Farnham *Department of Rural Sociology, 1450 Linden Drive, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA, *Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN 55108, USA and ~Department of Rural Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA Abstract - - In this paper, we apply an embeddedness perspective to data collected from group interviews in four rural Wisconsin communities. The interviews focused on interpretations of local economic conditions and changes and on the conse- quences of these changes for family well-being and activities. We analyze our parti- cipants' relationships to locality, their interpretations of local economic changes, and their formal and informal work arrangements. Just as restructuring is not occurring on the 'head of a pin', neither are the social relations that influence people's interpretations of, and responses to, restructuring. The restructuring of places leads to and is defined by the restructuring of social relationships in places. Family and marital relations are central to the kinds of actions and understandings we studied. In addition, we noted the importance of neighboring and class relation- ships. Some of these relationships were primarily based on a competition of inter- ests, others were based on mutual accommodation and cooperation. All these relationships are embedded in place, occurring in and helping to define locality. We conclude with a discussion of localities as continuously constructed, not only by macro-economic forces, but by the history of social relations that provide tolerance and resistance. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Introduction For example, studies of rural e c o n o m i c restructuring often point to three structural changes: decline of Our goal is to highlight the roles of social relationships the farm economy, increases in low-wage jobs in in the process of local restructuring. Too often, manufacturing and services, and growth of c o n s u m p - economic restructuring - - whether at national, regional tion functions (Little, 1994). or local levels - - has been seen as synonymous with change in industry, occupation, or wage structures Marsden and his colleagues (1993, p. 139) argue 'linked generally to the shift to a global economy and that the emphasis must be placed on incorporating the introduction of information technologies' (Flora et al., 1992, p.37). social relationships, especially those of power and advantage, into the analysis of social and spatial change. F r o m such an emphasis, *This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiative we can see the relevance of locality as a 'meeting place', Competitive Grants Program, under agreement No. constructed out of a constellations of social relations. 9403110. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recom- These social relations comprise sets of actors somehow mendations expressed in this paper are those of the tied together at different scales attempting to pursue authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. their interests....Out of this understanding we can begin Department of Agriculture. Pseudonyms have been used to grasp how locality, and of course rurality, become for discussion group participants. An earlier version of invested with particular social meanings. We thus need this paper was presented at the Rural Sociological Society to focus upon why actors adopt particular courses of Meeting, August 1995 in Washington, D.C. action, or more specifically, the 'rules' and resources 203 204 Leann M. Tigges et al. that condition such an adoption, and on the means they ness and place, and the links between them. Then employ in the attempt to reduce the amount of we describe the four communities and the partici- discretion enjoyed by other actors in the competition to impose interests. pants in our study. We begin our analysis with a discussion of the meaning of locality and the roles of Peck (1996) echos this point when he emphasizes social relationships in defining locality for our parti- that all labor markets are locally constituted. This cipants. Next, we focus on the embeddedness of live- means that they are constituted by the social, lihood strategies. In these analyses, we consider how economic, and political relationships and institutions lifestyle preferences, themselves influenced by and that inhere at the local level. reflective of social relations, influence respondents' interpretations of restructuring and the strategies Local labor markets more than passively reflect firms' families (consciously or unconsciously) develop to restructuring and labor control strategies, they actively cope. Lifestyle preferences are part and parcel of structure them (Peck, 1996, p.171). people's discussions of both locality and livelihood; they also help reveal the importance of social rela- He argues that in considering the social factors tionships in these discussions. We conclude with a affecting local labor markets, social scientists need discussion of localities as continuously constructed, to be concerned with the dialectical relationship not only by macro-economic forces, but by the between production and reproduction and with the history of social relations that provide tolerance and contradictory dimensions of the social regulation of resistance. labor. We use the embeddedness perspective to consider Social relations, rural localities, and restructuring: how relationships affect people's experiences with, an embeddedness approach and interpretations of, the changes occurring in their communities. The embeddedness perspective, derived from Granovetter (1985), contends that Using economic sociology's embeddedness perspec- economic action is constrained and facilitated by tive to analyze responses to, and interpretations of, ongoing social relationships and ties. By highlighting rural restructuring involves several considerations. the social embeddedness of economic action, sociol- First, it means being alert to the influence of struc- ogists hope to break down the definitions that artifi- tural constraints on the range of choices available, cially separate economic and social actions; and to the costs and benefits of pursuing certain economic relationships have social content, and vice strategies given available resources. However, it also versa. In our adaptation of this framework, we emphasizes the ways social relationships affect emphasize that social relationships of production choices and actions (Mingione, 1991). In Granovet- and reproduction are important for understanding ter's (1985, p.487) words, how rural residents experience, respond to, and shape local changes. Just as restructuring is not Actors do not behave or decide as atoms outside a social context, nor do they adhere slavishly to a script occurring on 'the head of a pin' (Massey, 1984), written for them by the particular intersection of social neither are social relationships. The restructuring of categories they happen to occupy. Their attempts at places both leads to and is defined by the restruc- purposive action are instead embedded in concrete, turing of social relationships in places. We are not ongoing systems of social relations. arguing that the local contingencies of action do not have structural origins, rather, that they are not only Because these concrete systems of social relations structural. Some are relational in origin and it is exist within spatially-defined parameters, many of these dimensions that we highlight. which are local, the embeddedness perspective is consistent with a nondeterministic reading of We apply the embeddedness framework in an Massey's spatial division of labor perspective of analysis of group interview data. The interviews, economic restructuring (Massey, 1984, 1995). Spatial conducted in four rural Wisconsin communities, divisions of labor emerge as economic organization focused on interpretations of local economic condi- interacts with regional and local histories and with tions and changes, and on the consequences of these current positions in the larger economic systems. changes for family well-being and activities. Our Unique social outcomes may result from this goal is not to understand or argue for 'locality 'combination of layers.' As Massey's comparison of effects' of economic restructuring (Duncan, 1989). South Wales and Cornwall shows, the implications Instead, we try to show how social relationships are of economic restructuring for social relationships involved in the changes, how they condition people's depend on the character and history of the understanding of their situations and options. First, community, not just on the type of change (see also we discuss in more detail the concepts of embedded- Cooke, 1985). Massey (1995) writes,  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 205 Spatial structures are established, reinforced, combated, such decision-making is...occasionally incapable of and changed through political and economic strategies rational explanation (Dunn et al., 1981, p.19). and battles on the part of managers, workers, and political representatives (p. 82) Hanson and Pratt's (1995) case study of a small city in Massachusetts further illustrates the social dimen- and sions of housing decisions. They find that 'rooted- The 'requirements of capital' do not always have it their ness' constrains housing and employment choices for own way (p. 87). most men and women in their sample. Half of their respondents restricted their housing search to a We bring Massey's concept of spatial divisions of single area of town. One-fifth of the families in labor to the embeddedness perspective because it which the male head held a manual occupation lived helps us anchor social relationships in space and in a home that had been 'in the family'. The effect time. of residence on employment was shown by the fact that more than 60% of men and 90% of women We use the embeddedness perspective to examine lived in their current home before they got their the ways noneconomic values and social relation- current jobs. ships influence evaluations of, and decisions regarding livelihood (work) and locality (residence). Social relationships have been found to play a key Livelihood and locality are not separable from each role in the process of getting a job. Granovetter other, nor are they independent of lifestyle consid- (1973) finds that even though many white collar men erations. Together these decisions (and nondeci- relied on information from social contacts to find sions) constitute 'family strategies.' These family out about job openings, earnings were higher when strategies are being influenced by structural changes the source of information was an acquaintance in the economy (Hareven, 1990). However, various rather than a friend or relative. Although his aspects of rural restructuring affect people's actions 'strength of weak ties' hypothesis has not been in ways that are not entirely economic. Social rela- supported for all social categories and classes, much tionships condition people's understanding of the subsequent research has demonstrated the situation, its causes and consequences, the range of important role of social contacts in the 'economic' feasible alternatives, and the choices they make. behaviors of job searching and hiring (Green et al., 1995; Lin and Dumin, 1986). Local social relationships are especially important for understanding how rural people are affected by Livelihood activities outside of the formalized sector changes in so-called 'economic' activity and relation- of the economy are also embedded in social rela- ships. Comparison of two rural communities in tionships. Differences in the use of these so-called Appalachia and New England by Duncan and informal activities illustrate how responses to Lamborghini (1994) illustrates the importance of changing economic conditions are not determined social class relationships for interpretations and by economic opportunities and constraints as much actions. Low-income women in the New England as by social conditions. Portes (1994) compares the community had concrete goals and realistic plans for response of the British working class to the severe improving their situations. Their counterparts in the economic downturn of the late 1970s and early Appalachian community had hopes but no plans. 1980s with the response of immigrants in large US The authors see these differences in outlook as the cities. In the former case, widespread informal work result of differences between the two communities arrangements did not appear; instead, displaced in the rigidity of the class structure and attitudes of workers turned to part-time jobs and self-provi- the local elite. sioning activities (Pahl and Wallace, 1985). These responses are attributed to social arrangements that Social relationships also play a fundamental role in encourage individualism and support state control of housing decisions. Residential relocation is a highly the economy: complex decision frequently motivated more by preferences for a better quality-of-life than a In this context, independent efforts at off-the-books rational decision based on employment opportuni- entrepreneurship are more likely to be denounced to ties or perceived cost-of-living advantages (Cuba the authorities as violations of the law than supported by neighbors and fellow workers (Portes, 1994, p.434). and Hummon, 1993; Zuiches, 1982). In fact, key indicators point to net disadvantages of rural local- In contrast, immigrants in US cities mobilize their ities for family economic outcomes (Galston and community networks and engage in a large variety Baehler, 1995). The decision of where to live is of informal economic activities. affected by tradition, relationships with family and friends, and lifestyle preferences, not just economic (T)he extent to which such opportunities are trans- costs and benefits; formed into informal enterprise depends on the capa- 206 Leann M. Tigges et al. city of communities to mobilize the social resources Before we turn to the insights gained from the inter- necessary to confront state enforcement and ensure view data, we describe the localities and individuals smooth market transactions. The contrasting experi- ences of Great Britain and the United States, both included in our study and our interview and analysis developed and regulated economies in process of rapid methods. transformation, illustrate the significance of different community orientations and resources (Portes, 1994, p.434). Four localities One last example of the effect of local social rela- tionships on economic behaviors is provided by In early 1995, we conducted one group interview in Cowell and Green (1994). They analyze the roles of each of four Wisconsin communities (see Fig. 1). In community structure, household characteristics, and our selection of interview sites, we looked at coun- community attachment on local spending behaviors. ties and communities that were geographically and Community attachment is measured by questions on economically different from each other. Wisconsin is local sentiment and social bonds (including propor- a large state, with both economic and physical diver- tions of friends and relatives in the community, sity. It is bordered by Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, the proportion of local people known, and membership Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and two of the Great in local organizations). Those more attached to their Lakes (Superior and Michigan). The northern half communities made a higher proportion of their food of the state is less densely populated than the and total purchases locally. Cowell and Green (1994, southern half, with much more land in forests, lakes, p.653) conclude, and American Indian reservations. The eastern half of the state is more industrial and urban than the community still matters and people continue to act on the basis of community sentiment. This attachment is western half, which is more agricultural and natural still evident in support for the local retail and services resource oriented. For historical as well as contem- sector in small towns. porary reasons, the economic fortunes of communi- ties are influenced by their location within the state. These studies show that a variety of economic actions are influenced in important ways by non- We began by looking at 1990 and 1980 Census data economic factors, in particular, by social relation- for Wisconsin counties. We were looking for coun- ships. These relationships occur in places and have ties that had experienced some of the features histories that are often part of how places are commonly identified as constituting rural restruc- constituted. Responding to criticisms of the first turing-specifically: decline of family farms, change edition of Spatial Divisions of Labor (1984), Massey in manufacturing and services, and the rise of (1995, p.333) emphasizes that what is at issue consumption functions (Little, 1994). In particular, we were interested in two consequences of restruc- is not just the social relations of production in space, or stretched over space, but the fact that those social rela- turing: increased rates of family poverty and female tions in themselves constitute social space. At a quite labor force participation. The counties we chose are concrete level, this approach can influence the way in not representative of their region in any statistical which place/locality/region is thought about. Not only sense, but were purposively chosen to capture are 'localities' the product of the articulation of social different facets of change. In brief, we were relations at a wide range of geographical scales, but they are constantly being formed and transformed. attracted to LaFayette County because of its decline in family farming, to Door County because of its We argue here that this interpretation of localities decline in manufacturing, to Sawyer County because as actively and continuously constructed makes of its experiences with 'middle class colonization,' social relations a central concern for analyses of and to Portage County because of its strong 'economic restructuring.' producer service sector. Women's labor force parti- cipation had markedly increased in LaFayette and In our analysis of interview data we ask two main Portage counties in the 1980s; in Sawyer and Door questions. First, how do social relationships consti- counties, family poverty rates were high and had tute locality for our participants? We pay special increased dramatically. Within the counties, we attention to the ways people are attached to their ended up in the particular communities because of communities through social relationships of coop- their size, position relative to centers of employ- eration and conflict. Second, we ask how social rela- ment, and economic or political functions. (See tionships affect people's assessments of, and Table 1 and the descriptions below for more detail responses to the changes that affect their livelihood. on the counties and communities in the study.) We look for evidence of reciprocal and contradic- tory relationships between productive and repro- We had initially expected that the diversity in our ductive spheres, between community and economy. interview sites would be reflected in people's assess-  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 207 ments of the restructuring their communities had of the comments from the discussion groups, we experienced in the early 1990s. This was true only to provide a brief description of each locality below. a limited extent, as some of the quotes below illu- strate. We did not know how or if these different structural conditions would affect the family strate- From sho~s to shops gies we were exploring with the focus groups, We found that the labor market type and economic structure of the localities mattered much less to the Door County, known throughout the upper Midwest responses to change than the social relationships of for its natural beauty, is in northeastern Wisconsin. the individuals in those communities. This under- The natural amenities of the county are drawing an scores our point that social action is not only influ- increasing number of tourists to the peninsula. The enced by economic structure; the social location of county contains Sturgeon Bay, a small city with a actors may matter more than the economic context. once-vibrant, now-declining shipbuilding industry. Because the setting was important to us initially, and The peninsular geography of the county means that because it provides the context to understand some southern communities are less isolated than others. 0 001 Ki k- SAWYER DOOR PORTAGE LAFAYETrE 0 20 40 60 80 K i i o n ~ I I I I I Figure 1. Case study counties and communities in Wisconsin (inset shows Wisconsin in the US). 208 Leann M. Tigges et al. Table 1. Demographic and economic profile of case study counties and communities State Door Forest- LaFayette Portage Sawyer total County ville County Darlington County Amherst County Hayward Population 4.9 rail 25690 470 16076 2235 61405 792 14181 1897 Recreational homes 7.3% 35.4% 2.0% 1.1% 0.30% 3.0% 1.8% 52.4% 3.0% Median familyincome $35082 $30913 $28646 $28718 $29571 $34926 $28472 $21577 $23750 Female labor force participation 60.1% 56.6% 52.9% 60.4% 55.5% 61.7% 52.3% 48.0% 54.6% Work outsidecounty 21.4% 7.3% 29.1% 37.2% 17.9% 13.1% 17.5% 19.3% 11.5% Work outsidecommunity 83.5% 42.8% 57.1% 41.3% Employmentin Agriculture, mining 4.7% 7.8% 1.5% 24.9% 5.2% 5.8% 5.0% 4.3% 3.2% Construction 4.9% 8.0% 2.4% 4.4% 6.0% 4.3% 5.5% 8.2% 6.6% Nondurable manufacturing 9.3% 3.3% 5.8% 6.7% 5.7% 10.5% 6.4% 3.1% 3.5% Durable manufacturing 15.1% 19.8% 38.8% 12.1% 10.5% 7.4% 10.8% 11.8% 6.3% Wholesale and retail trade 21.2% 23.9% 18.0% 19.3% 24.7% 22.2% 22.4% 23.2% 25.5% Finance, insurance,real estate 5.8% 4.7% 7.3% 3.0% 4.7% 11.1% 10.5% 4.1% 5.3% Other services 38.9% 32.7% 26.2% 29.6% 43.9% 38.7% 41.3% 44.5% 50.1% (Source: US Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population and Housing, summary tape files). Nonetheless, they are affected, if only indirectly, by of the county for work (11.5% in 1990), reflecting the tourism in the northern part of the county and the isolation of the area. the decline of agriculture and shipbuilding in the middle part of the county. In the Door County area, the numbers of workers in retail sales, executive and Dairy cows and direct shippers managerial, and administrative support and service occupations swelled during the 1980s. We visited a LaFayette County, in the southwestern part of the small community, Forestville (500 residents in 1990), state, is a declining agricultural county. In the 1980s, not far from the county's southern border. With the county lost almost 8% of its population and the 85% of its residents working out of town, Forestville proportion of the labor force in agriculture declined is largely a bedroom community (see Table 1). by almost 5%. Despite the troubles in the farm Three in 10 Forestville residents worked outside the sector, a fourth of the county's labor force reported county in 1990. that farming was their primary occupation in 1990. Proximity to metropolitan areas helped ameliorate the county's decline in the agricultural sector; 37% Timber jobs and a second-home economy of its workers were employed in other counties. We conducted our interview in Darlington, which is in the center of LaFayette County and its largest Sawyer County, located in northwestern Wisconsin, community (population 2000 in 1990). Eighteen has about half its land in forest or as part of percent of Darlington's workers commuted to other American Indian reservation. Natural amenities are counties. In LaFayette County area, farm-related contributing to economic and population growth in occupations declined in the 1980s, while administra- the area. However, unlike Door County, which tive support, sales, and service jobs increased. One draws many vacationers, Sawyer County is attracting increasingly popular destination for women workers mostly seasonal and weekend residents who take is a large catalog distribution center in an adjoining advantage of the inexpensive land and many county. beautiful lakes. Over half the housing stock in the county is owned by outsiders. These recreational homes support the construction industry but have Stability and high-end services few spinoff effects. With nearly 10% of its employ- ment in the construction industry and 12% in lumber, many year-round residents experience the Almost in the middle of the state is Portage County. uncertainties of seasonal employment. The family Its industrial structure closely mirrors state averages, poverty rate in this county increased from 12% in with two exceptions. First, employment in durable 1979 to more than 16%. Participants in the discus- goods manufacture (7%) is about half the state sion group came from the largest community in the average and the lowest of the four counties we county, Hayward (about 2000 population in 1990). visited. In contrast, employment in the finance, Of the four communities in our study, Hayward had insurance, and real estate sector at 11% is nearly the smallest percentage of workers commuting out twice the state average and about three times higher  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 209 than the other counties in our study. Portage County computer program (Aquad) to sort quotes by theme. also is home to one of the state's institutions of We supplemented this arrangement of data with our higher education. With educational services and the readings of the complete transcriptions to under- insurance industry as major employers, it is not too stand the meanings of the discussions within the surprising that women's labor force participation in overall context. Finally, we sorted the transcripts by Portage County (at 62%) was higher than the state participant to get a sense of each individual's pers- average in 1990. We visited the village of Amherst pectives and contributions to the discussion. In this (population of about 1000 in 1990). It is less than paper we do not quantify our analysis by reporting 50 km from Steven's Point, the city with the univer- the number of times a particular code word sity, county government, and a large insurance appeared in the transcripts. Instead, we concentrate company. Like Darlington's workers, 18% of on the content of the discussions. workers in Amherst hold jobs outside the county in which they reside. The area experienced large Our participants freely described economic changes increases in manufacturing and retail trade jobs in and people's responses to these changes. The discus- the 1980s. sions in each community revealed critical attitudes toward employers and sympathetic accounts of families' struggles to make ends meet. Group Group interview method and participants dynamics were helped by our selection of relatively homogeneous groups (Merton et al., 1990). Rather Qualitative researchers cannot use statistical than trying to select participants who reflected formulas to decide the number of group interviews 'average' nonmetropolitan residents, we developed a that make up a suitable size sample. Morgan brief telephone screening interview that provided suggests that both the nature of the research and information about life course, economic circum- the predictability of discussions will determine the stances, and gender? All participants had children at number of group interviews to be conducted home and the vast majority indicated their family (Morgan, 1988, p. 41). When the research is income in 1994 was lower than $35 000 (the median exploratory in nature and the discussions quickly for these counties). Only one participant was not become similar, only three or four groups are neces- married. All but two graduated high school and sary.* We reached the 'predictability' criteria by the seven graduated college. fourth group. Of the 13 men in Amherst and Hayward, 5 were The discussion (or focus) group in each community skilled blue collar workers, 3 were school teachers, 3 had six to ten members. We had a total of 30 parti- were farmers, and 2 were semi- or low-skilled cipants, all non-Hispanic whites, across the four workers. Of the 17 women in Forestville and discussion groups, t Each discussion group was led by Darlington, 7 were clerical or sales workers, 5 were one of the research project's principal investigators. homemakers, 3 were professional, managerial, or The group interview began with a discussion of how technical workers, 1 was a farmer, and 1 was a semi- economic conditions had changed in the locality. or low-skilled worker. The men were more likely to From there, the discussion moved to the topic of work full-time than the women, but were also more how families were responding to these economic likely to work only part of the year. This was conditions, and finally to community services and particularly true for the Hayward group where most supports for families. Each discussion session lasted of our participants were employed in school about two hours and was tape-recorded.* We tran- teaching, logging, and landscaping. Thus, our parti- scribed and coded the interviews, and then used a cipants represent a traditional working class of people. All respondents (or their spouses) were *Hedges (1985) argues that four to six groups are a either employees or self-employed on farms or in reasonable minimum for most projects and Feagin et al. small businesses. About half the men did manual (1991) argue that using several cases instead of just one labor in their main occupation and all but one of the strengthens the conclusions of qualitative research. *Only one of the selected counties has a significant women were in female-dominated occupations. minority population. American Indians represent about 15% of Sawyer County's population. However, we decided ~We first contacted the school districts to get lists of not to try to represent this population in our study families with children enrolled in the local schools. This because of the unique social and economic circumstances strategy proved fruitful in two counties. For those groups they face. we solicited our participants by randomly calling families *Another member of the project team assisted the facili- on the school district list. Due to lack of cooperation from tator in each interview, running the tape recorder and one school district we relied on contacts suggested by the taking notes. In Forestville, we had technical problems county Extension agent with responsibilities for family with the tape recorder and so had to rely on a transcrip- programs. In the smallest community, the village clerk tion of the assistant's written notes. provided names of families with children. 210 Leann M. Tigges et al. We followed Krueger's (1994) recommendations in Locality setting up and conducting the discussion groups. All sessions were held in the evening. Although this We use the term locality to capture both economic time slot maximized opportunities for attendance, it and social relationships that occur within space and excluded people working or attending school in the define that space. We argue that localities are evening, and those unable or unwilling to leave their constructed out of these relationships, in addition to families. In response to Krueger's (1994) cautions being physical places (Marsden et al., 1993; Massey, against mixed-gender interview groups, we chose 1995). The groups' discussions about locality reveal either all women or all men to participate in each that all of these dimensions emerge in people's group. Smith-Lovin and Brody (1989) show that understandings of their localities. Often the term status differences within groups affect interaction. 'community' could be substituted for 'locality.' But Specifically, high status people tend to dominate. at other times, the reference shifted to a place as For this reason, focus group experts recommend small as the neighborhood and as large as 'rural relatively homogeneous groups so that no voices are Wisconsin.' We are sensitive to these shifting refer- stifled by status differences (Krueger, 1994). ents but emphasize that they are equally meaningful We interviewed men in Hayward because men in defining the locality from the embeddedness would be most likely to experience the seasonal perspective. employment of the area. Men also were invited to the discussion group in Amherst because we were Except for the farmers, most of our participants interested in how men perceived the opportunities were not lifelong residents of their communities. and changes in this white-collar region. The area This indicates a choice of locality. Many had moved offered relatively good jobs for high school educated from nearby, but only a few had moved to their women but high-paying traditional blue collar jobs communities because of a particular job oppor- for men were scarce. We were interested in men's tunity. Instead, people lived where they did because reactions to and interpretations of the changes in they wanted to be close to family, because they this kind of economy. We interviewed women in valued area amenities, because housing was more Forestville because of service employment increases affordable, and because of proximity to various in the area; these jobs tend to go to women. We communities in which they might find work. interviewed women in Darlington because of the marked increase in women's labor force participa- Our interviews revealed families 'optimizing' in a tion in this county (from 49% in 1980 to 60% in very broad sense in the choice of their community, 1990) and because women's off-farm jobs sustain but they used more than economic criteria. The many family farms (Godwin and Marlowe, 1990). economic factor of cost was an important considera- tion in selecting a particular house. A woman who In each case, we chose the gender that we thought resided in Forestville (in the tourism county) would have the more interesting perspective on the recalled, kind of changes and economic structure in the community, but such a decision is necessarily arbi- I think when we were looking, you know, five years ago trary. Men and women discussed the basic structural for a home, when we looked in Sturgeon Bay [the larger community 16 kilometers away], everything that was in changes in their localities and effects on their our price range had to be remodeled. And the home we families in similar ways. However, their views of bought up here was even under our price range and we social relationships and consequences sometimes didn't have to remodel or anything, t differed. We cannot be sure that the major source of the difference is gender since the groups were all Despite the importance of cost in their decisions held in different localities, which, we argued above, about precisely where to live, social and personal should be characterized by different social relation- factors drew participants to the area or kept them ships because of layers of history (Massey, 1984, there. Although we did not explicitly ask about local 1995). Given that gender provides a fundamental kinship ties, they were evident from other comments basis for social roles and relationships, we expect it made by many participants. One woman referred to to provide a subtext for these discussions.* Our goal the after school child care her mother-in-law in this paper is not to privilege gender over class or provided; another talked about how her parents other relations, but we often indicate the gender of the speaker and highlight several ways in which it *Renters tended not to evaluate housing costs as favor- clearly affected the content of the discussion. ably. In Sawyer County with its growth of second homes, Edward felt that area rents were prohibitively high for the *See Tigges (1998) for an analysis on the reciprocal rela- locals. He admitted, 'We're renting from my mom, and tionship of gender roles and rural lifestyles seen in these otherwise we couldn't afford to live here because there discussion groups. goes all our money for rent.'  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 211 helped her manage her children at church; one man The worst thing they possibly could have done they did worked in his father's business; another rented from to us - - that's putting in zoning on trailer houses .... (A) young man and a woman starting out, they can't afford his mother; a loan official worried about having to to go buy a new house; a lot of them can't afford to rent foreclose on the family farm. a house. You can buy a reasonable trailer house for $10000, $11 000, you know, maybe 10 years old. But you Social relationships with friends, neighbors, and got to have 5 or 6 acres to put it on; it's got to be zoned this and that. I mean, it's a discriminatory law. They're business people also added value to the assessment discriminating against young (people). of community. For example, in one community, three of the six participants reported local profes- A common family strategy in this time of employ- sionals had not charged for services or had delayed ment insecurity was to live in a community that collection of bills when people were having financial provided multiple employment options through troubles. George, a manual worker, told of his commuting. The Hayward discussion group was the experiences the previous spring: only one that did not raise the issue of commuting. In Forestville, several women discussed their town's It was the first time in ten years I was unemployed in advantages in terms of access to three or four larger the winter time, and 1 was $800 behind on my house communities. In the middle of the state, a group payment and they [the credit union] held on to it for me until I got it [the money]. I could have just as well lost it participant noted, [the house] .... the credit union--that's all local people and they realize what's going on. I think Amherst may be a little more fortunate than other towns of similar size in other parts of the state. I think by virtue of being halfway between Steven's Point The women's and men's groups differed in the and Waupaca . . . . we see a lot of people in the village emphasis placed on two aspects of community. that work in one of those two cities. W o m e n emphasized family safety more than men. Small town life, though filled with tradeoffs, offered Proximity to other communities seems to be a safety for their children. They stressed the positive purely physical aspect determining the employment nature of their social relations with neighbors and opportunities offered by a locality. However, the others within the community. Elderly neighbors kept women's discussions revealed how social relations in an eye on their houses and on their children. A the home and workplace influenced the opportuni- woman in the farming community described the ties for commuting. The often contradictory rela- situation of an acquaintance: tionship between productive and reproductive spheres was prominent in these discussions. In the They were in the [city] suburbs and they couldn't let southwestern farming community of Darlington, low their kids just walk from school to home.., so they were wages for less-skilled work meant that commuting tickled to death to come to Darlington .... That's some- was not an equally available option. Nora, who thing I really don't think about, is the safety, the freedom of leaving your door unlocked when you're moved to the community to reduce her husband's home. commuting costs, wanted to work part-time but found few jobs for women available locally. Safety was not specifically mentioned in either of the My husband, for not having a degree, makes a pretty men's groups, though several men referred to the good living, but it's not enough to support a family of advantages of-their community for raising children. five. We're... looking for part-time jobs, which isn't very Men were more likely to see the advantages of their easy without having to drive 35 to 40 miles [55 to 65 communities in terms of freedom from zoning and kilometers] everyday. I don't have any skills; you know, I've been a homemaker. I was seventeen when I had my other restrictions on how to use their land. This first child so I haven't had a lot Of work experience. I'd political dimension has social relations at its root. have to find day care. ! only have one child in school, so That is, it revolves around the distribution of power I'd have to pay day care and then your gas expenses in the community. Jim, who was drawn to the area too. So, in the long run, unless you're making in his search for a more independent lifestyle, $5()00-600(l more, it's not worth your time. explained, Minimizing the husband's commute had effectively cut off employment opportunities for the wife. The The reason we came to Amherst is because it had affordable tracts of land that didn't have a lot of stip- economics of commuting and day-care combined ulations on them, and so we own 40 acres and we have with the low pay for a low-skilled woman worker our chickens and our big garden and we hope to put in seemed likely to keep the family restricted to a an orchard. single paycheck. George, from the northwestern community that was The final dimension of embeddedness that emerges experiencing a growth of second and seasonal homes when we look at locality is the dialectical relation- complained, ship between livelihood and lifestyle considerations. 212 Leann M. Tigges et al. One discussion in particular revealed the complex behaviors of employers, not just the kinds of skills nature of the decision to live in a rural area. Mark, a demanded or kinds of work available. Class relations man who had moved to Amherst from a large city a and antagonisms came through loud and clear, couple of years earlier, talked about motives that especially in the men's groups. We then discuss the related to values of independence, not income-maxi- issues involved in structuring paid work within the mization. He recognized the paradox of holding family, and finally their activities outside the formal multiple jobs and taking on informal work to main- economy that help sustain their families or improve tain the 'illusion of independence.' He suggests that their quality of life. Family relationships are the the illusion is as important as the reality: important part of respondents' stories about the scheduling of paid work. Family and community The common thread with everybody here is very relationships emerged as the foundation of informal different than what you see in Milwaukee [the state's economic strategies. largest city] is that you kind of want to be your own person. You know, you live on your 40 acres, your big garden or renovate a house, like I'm doing, in a small town. I mean, I think everybody here would just do Restructured employment relations about anything to maintain some sort of at least illusion of independence .... We kind of pound our heads into the wall doing everything we can to maintain that sort Consistent with national concerns in the mid-1990s of independent lifestyle, even though I think in the long (see New York Times, 1996), a major theme that run maybe it's self-defeating. Listening to the dairy emerged regarding local economic change was the farmers here, I don't know what keeps these guys in business, you know .... There's no economic rationale increasing economic insecurity caused by new for being in that business and yet, people fight tooth employment relations. Participants felt it was and nail to maintain their lifestyle even if you have to becoming more difficult for families to make ends have both parents working. It's that mentality I think meet, and they were wary of the unpredictable that is very, very common in rural Wisconsin that you changes that might jeopardize their families' well- don't see in the suburbs of Milwaukee. That's what 1 think is kind of the common thread. being. Although only Hayward has a substantial share of employment tied to seasonal industries, in all four communities employment insecurity was a Although his generalization probably attributes prominent concern. We heard expressions of the more choice of lifestyles to rural residents than an power of employers to set the terms and conditions objective survey might find, his statements struck a for work and pay. These working class people gave chord with the group. A dairy farmer in the group voice to their relative powerlessness in the job responded, market. In so doing, they revealed the social dimen- We could go out and probably get a better job that pays sions of employment relations in their localities. more, but it's something that we enjoy. Our lifestyle is great and that's why we do it. Group participants reported that finding employ- ment was a challenging task (unemployment rates in A similar conversation took place in Hayward where their counties ranged from 5.3 to 10.7% in the George reported, months of our interviews). Two women in the Darlington group noted the role of personal connec- There's very few young people that were my age and tions in getting jobs in their small town: decided to stick around and stay here. We knew we weren't going to get rich staying here, it's just the type It's very hard to get a job and very few are advertised. of lifestyle that we like. It's laid back, not a lot of crime, It's mostly always filled by association. I was able to get no problems, good fishing and hunting. And like I said, into the job and it wasn't anything advertised. It was I for one knew I wasn't going to get rich, but because of one (where it mattered) who you knew. the area and the people here, I decided to make it my home. Another woman told of her desperation in job hunting: Livelihood I even offered to work for less money because he [her prospective employer] was looking at other people .... I Our participants' descriptions of their local econo- don't know if it was good for me or not, but I got it, and mies and the changes they had seen in recent years I had wanted a full-time job. revealed the relationships of production and repro- duction at the heart of so-called 'economic life' Wages are only part of the story, as the quotation (Peck, 1996). In this section, we first present the above expresses. Economic restructuring in the US ways our respondents described changing employ- has meant not just a change of industries or ment relationships. They discussed expectations and employers, but a change in the employment rela-  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 213 tions within firms. These changes are visible to men's earnings (Reskin and Padavic, 1994). The workers and several of our respondents were very discussions in rural Wisconsin communities under- articulate in describing the character and implica- score the validity of that factor and suggest another tions of these new relationships. Louise, who had reason wives were taking jobs outside the h o m e - - t o been 'let go' from her previous job, experienced a get health insurance for the family. Mary from different aspect of the new economy. Darlington observed: I found from my last job that nobody's irreplaceable. I Over the years, I have found that the wives have all had worked for a company for twelve years. . . . it was tough to leave the farm. I was fortunate I didn't have to, but [being let go]. most of them have had to for the insurance end to keep things going. Phil, an educated white collar worker, described his job as A man described the situation of a neighboring family: kind of a fluke and something I just kind of lucked on. So I'm well aware that I could be out on the street The lady had a job at (a company) which doesn't pay a looking for a job and I try to keep in tune with what's lot except they've got a terrific health insurance plan .... available. Literally everything she made went for day care and a little bit for clothing and gas. But her net income.., was nothing, except she was providing the health insurance. In Hayward, the town surrounded by forests, lakes, and second homes, part-time employment was Two other men reported that their wives worked for understood by one of our participants as a matter of the insurance benefits their jobs provided. In choice, but the choice was made by employers. Tom, Amherst, in a county whose share of manufacturing a laborer, related the following theory: jobs was well below the state average, plant closings were especially bad news. One man in that group I know a few employers here (tend) to hire somebody part-time, so they get out of (paying) workmen's noted how difficult finding comparable employment compensation (taxes) and stuff like that. Twenty hours a was: week and off with you and we'll get somebody else in here, and there you have three guys taking up one guy's Since (my employer) is closing down, I've had a real full-time job. hard time finding a job that pays similar to what I was making there, even without the benefits. Donald felt that the isolation of the area increased employers' power to set wages, and to discriminate. Because the US lacks a national health program and does not mandate that employers provide health They [employers] think their wage scale is so skewed insurance for their workers, health insurance is a from what it is in urban areas and see it as something to highly prized job benefit among the working class. take advantage of .... In fact, I can state example after Nearly 92% of Wisconsin residents were covered by example where they used the fact that they're in some form of health insurance in the early 1990s, Hayward as the reason why their wages are not compar- able to other facilities or businesses in urban areas in compared with 86% of US residents as a whole (US other parts of the country. But yet there's also been Bureau of the Census, 1994, p.l18). The quality of examples where they won't offer somebody from the coverage varies widely; some participants reported local community the same wages they'd offer to some- paying premiums of several hundred dollars a month body that comes in from out of town. and high deductibles and co-payments. Many parti- cipants felt minimally insured against normal crises The restructuring of employment relations in men's and we heard a variety of personal stories of jobs is associated with rural women's growing economic hardships brought on by illness or injury involvement in paid labor, a change which reverber- within their families. Tom, the laborer in Hayward, ates into the domestic sphere. Women in nonmetro- expressed a strong class conscious interpretation of politan areas of the US have traditionally had lower the reason health insurance is more difficult for rates of labor force participation than have urban workers to get from their employers: women, but the gap is closing. In Wisconsin, for example, the labor force participation rate of We don't get health insurance.., because there is nonmetropolitan women was 48.6% in 1980, six always somebody who could take my place. You know, percentage points lower than the metropolitan he could hire some other Joe off the street .... So you women's rate of 54.6. By 1990, nonmetropolitan have to stick it out, tough it out. (You) see, they got you over a barrel here. They say, 'You don't like it, go women's labor force participation had risen to somewheres else.' You know, what the hell is your 56.9% and was just 5.4 percentage points lower than choice? metro women's participation rate. One factor commonly cited as contributing to the general Health insurance is a nonwage form of employment increase of women's employment is the decline in compensation that helps low-wage employers retain 214 Leann M. Tigges et al. good workers. In Darlington, Nora explained her In addition to sequential scheduling by couples, indi- husband's satisfaction with his current employer in viduals are increasingly holding more than one job, the following way: either by working different shifts, different days, or different times of the year. A study of moonlighting Right now he's hired temporary, but if you work hard among couples in nonmetropolitan America showed and do your job, you get your full-time, and then you that both economic and noneconomic factors were get insurance. And I can say that it doesn't make up for associated with multiple-job holding (Whitener and the lack of pay, but it makes up for some of it because it's very good insurance. Bokemeier, 1992). Some couples held multiple jobs to get through tough economic times; others did it to explore new career options. Since a primary cause This quotation suggests yet another dimension of of multiple-job holding is low wages and the wide- restructured employment relations - - that new hires spread problem of low wages in rural areas has been are increasingly 'temporary,' a low-cost, low-risk way solidly documented (Gorham, 1992; Tickamyer and for employers to 'try out' workers before committing Duncan, 1990), we expected moonlighting to be a to them as contractual, 'permanent' workers. prevalent practice. In Hayward, the community in our study with the lowest median family income, two of the six men reported working currently at more Work arrangements than one job. The other four worked at their main jobs only part of the year, and so held their multiple As employment relations have been restructured, jobs consecutively. Across the state in the village of and the benefits of work along with them, couples' Forestville, three of the eight women in our discus- work schedules have also changed. Paid work is sion group also reported that they or their spouses scheduled to meet household and family demands, held more than one job at a time. The self-described with the timing of men's work less restricted than 'single mother' in that group noted that her husband women's. In a study of women's work in a small sometimes works two jobs in addition to working the Massachusetts city, Hanson and Pratt (1995) found night shift on his main job. Some who were not that in almost a third of dual-earner families with working multiple jobs at the time of the interview children younger than 13, the husband and wife reported that they had in the past. For example, in worked sequential shifts. Greater difficulties finding the southwestern farming community one woman adequate child care and the lack of after-school care noted: in rural areas may make these arrangements more common. Our women's discussion groups suggest I did that for a while.., full-time job (during the week) and then work on the weekends -- for about four this possibility. Anne, who worked in social services, months. noted: The strain of working long hours, however, is not I know a lot of families that are kind of ships passing in the night. You know, one comes home, says hi, gets restricted to moonlighters. Overtime work is crucial supper.., and the other one takes off (for work). And to some (primarily male) workers, especially in (then that one) comes home, gets breakfast, gets the manufacturing jobs. They would end up losing kids up while the other parent.., tries to get their sleep. income if they took a second job. George, the It's just incredible the juggling they have to do in order skilled manual worker in the northwestern to make it work. community of Hayward, explained: Another woman in that group reported on her I can't afford to go to work a second job for the simple neighbors: reason that if I quit at eight hours on my job, then I go take a job for minimum wage and lose my overtime, I'm You never really see them, because one works days and cutting my own throat. So I'm better off to work, you one works nights. Kind of typical cliche, in order to know, all I can in a day or a week or a month or what- have kids, one has to work one shift, one has to work ever. When I can work, I'm better off to work hard and the other. get that overtime. Two jobs wouldn't cut it. One woman went as far as describing herself as a However, for many farmers multiple job holding has single mother during the week because her husband been the only way to keep farming (Heffernan et al., works nights (she works days). These quotations 1981). The economic restructuring of rural America show that decisions about who works and when they has not changed that reality; it has increased work are embedded in family responsibilities. They farmers' dependence on off-farm work (Pfeffer and are also embedded in social relationships within Gilbert, 1991). One participant reported: families and with friends, neighbors, and kin who might provide child care. I farm and I've got a welding shop.  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 215 In the northcentral community of Amherst, one man services (babysitting, cleaning, hairdressing, and so described the situation of an acquaintance in the forth) and those selling miscellaneous goods. following way: Rurality of the area increased the likelihood of engaging in any informal .activity. In our Wisconsin For the last twenty years the husband works [out] and groups, access to natural resources and rurality of the wife basically takes care of the farm .... I don't know if he's supporting the cows or if they're supporting the area both seemed important influences on the him, or whatever. They somehow gather it all together types of informal activity undertaken. Participants in to make ends meet, I guess. the areas affected by tourism talked more about selling crafts or firewood and having garage sales. Another farmer explained: However, participants in all groups stressed informal activities as an important way that families in their Basically I'm doing most of the farming at this point communities deal with the new economic realities. and I'm diversifying. I'm starting to raise dogs and also looking towards my instructor's license in giving riding lessons, or just getting into the horse(-raising) end of it. Garage and yard sales are common ways in the United States for households to dispose of unwanted goods and clothing. Many families see Informal economic activities and self-provisioning them as a way to raise a little cash in exchange for things they no longer use: People are often motivated by economic pressure to We have a garage sale every year where we make pretty generate additional income or find ways to conserve good money - - just pick out stuff here and there and the income they have. Informal work and self-provi- then sell it. sional or subsistence activities often have a combina- tion of social and economic motives and Garage sales can also operate as a weekend resale consequences (Levitan and Feldman, 1991). King- business, in which the operators collect items to sell solver's rural Kentucky study, for example, shows themselves. Thus, they are more like flea-markets that individuals supplement their work for multina- than household sales. The tourism and recreational tional corporations with other subsistence activities home basis of the local economy in Hayward (Kingsolver, 1992). She interprets these combina- encourage this informal market work: tions of work as a form of resistance to dependency on externally-controlled firms. Workers increase Actually, during tourist season the garage sales are their control when they expand their ways of making everywhere. That's a steady income for some people; a living. Kingsolver sees the arrival of multinational they run a garage sale every weekend. firms in this region as a form of economic restruc- turing, but workers' actions ultimately restructure Common across rural economies are informal work the relationships between the firms and the options that use the workers' job-related skills or tap community. other skills to make money. Jim discussed the on-the-side work of an acquaintance: Informal activities can be distinguished by whether or not they involve monetary exchange. Although I know one guy he's a plumber five days a week and most activities had a common base in the desire to then on weekends he'll go and put someone's plumbing improve the family's standard of living or quality of in for them, so he doesn't even have a day off. He works more on weekends than he does during the week life, the decisions about which activities to pursue usually. reflected available material and social resources. We first consider the ways people found to expand the He then continued: money coming into the household and then turn to their attempts to make their incomes go farther. In That's fine for some people, but I need a break. I don't both of these areas, social relationships and lifestyle need the money that bad where I need to work ungodly considerations come prominently into play. hours. Informal work. The low income and high insecurity This man, who worked at an unskilled factory job, associated with market relationships lead some rural later discussed the futility of on-the-side work activi- families to supplement their wages with work ties he and his wife had tried: outside the regulated labor market. In their nonme- tropolitan Pennsylvania study, Jensen et al. (1995) My wife was selling Discovery toys on the side, but people would rather spend $30 a weekend in the pool found participation in informal economic activities leagues and darts than just $6 on their kid. And we to be widespread, but not very lucrative. The most were driving and delivering local shopper (papers) just common activities were those providing personal to get some extra money. The wear and tear on the 216 Leann M. Tigges et al. vehicle - - just ended up it was a break-even type deal. you kind of want to be your own person. You know, you You don't get ahead doing stuff. live on your 40 acres, your big garden, or renovate a house--like I'm doing--in a small town. Self-provisioning. Self-provisioning activities depend on resources such as time, land, and skill (Pahl and Wallace, 1985). Participants actively discussed Bartering. 'Getting by' often means doing for gardening, hunting, fishing, building on or remod- oneself what one can and loosely bartering for the eling their homes, and working on cars. During rest. Drawing a clear line between the informal these discussions, the complexity of motives and activities that involve working for their families and rationality behind these activities emerged. those that involve working for other people is diffi- Economic motives were clearly behind many activi- cult. As our participants described the processes by ties that involved providing food. Even if they could which a room was added to the house or broken get by without these activities, gardening and things got fixed, it was clear that informal exchange hunting were valued for the additional food often accompanied self-provisioning. Those with provided. For example, in Hayward, the community market-valuable skills (weekend carpenters, mech- in which the median family income was only anics, or makers of crafts) kept busy with their own two-thirds the state average, one participant projects and were called on to help neighbors, observed: friends, and family. However, babysitting and other services also were exchanged frequently. There's quite a few families around here, if they don't get a deer in deer season, it makes the winter longer. Informal economic activities are often strongly There's no doubt about that. embedded in a network of social relations. The following quotations were typical: Another noted: For child care, you're finding more (parents) trying to The way food is, you can't afford it. So we garden. We find friends and family for favors back and forth, rather put in a few hours in the garden, but it pays off in the than paying that extra money out (Louise, Darlington). end. There's a certain amount of bartering going on. You One participant in Amherst admitted, know, I know how to fix your car; you know how to shingle my roof. My brother-in-laws have a farm .... I We have a big garden partially because we enjoy it, but go down every summer on a weekend and help him mostly because we need to. I can't make enough make hay. In return, he gives me half a beef. You know, working on my own in the area to support our family. so it's a barter system (Tom, Hayward). Hunting and fishing are activities that combine self- provisioning and recreation. The recreational side to these activities causes some conflicting feelings for Conclusions and discussion women who are left to tend the children while their husbands hunt or fish. One stay-at-home mother The restructuring of rural places cannot be gleaned expressed frustration at having to ask her parents to only through an analysis of jobs lost or gained, or a help her with the children at church on Sunday shift in the industrial or occupational structure, or while her husband was fishing. Although she change in the average wage, although all these are appreciated the food his fishing provided, she felt important factors. Understanding the endurance of abandoned and sounded jealous of his time alone. rural communities requires incorporating noneco- nomic dimensions into the study of rural restruc- Beyond economic and recreational motives, self- turing. Although statistical analyses of quantitative esteem and cultural values surrounding independ- data can tell us much about factors associated with ence were involved in self-provisioning activities. particular outcomes, understanding the meanings of These values came through especially clearly in the those outcomes and the contexts in which decisions men's discussion groups. A Hayward man asserted, are made requires qualitative data. In this paper, we explored the meanings and context of family A lot of people up here built their own home .... Several responses to the economic changes occurring in four of them built a home with no mortgage, they just built it as they went. rural communities in one Midwestern US state. We argued that the decisions and nondecisions are not As noted earlier, Mark in Amherst felt that solely influenced by structural factors, such as types of jobs available or family structure. Instead, our The common thread with everybody here is very data highlight the role of spatially-bound social rela- different than what you see in Milwaukee--(it) is that tionships in maintaining rural populations and  Social relationships in locality and livelihood 217 sustaining rural families, in structuring their class, gender, and locality together shaped many of responses to economic conditions, and in shaping the responses we heard. work and family life. Our data reaffirm the important role of social rela- Although most of the relevant social relationships tionships in generating the foundation for a variety have a spatial context that could be described as of livelihood strategies, including informal activities 'local', our point is not that the relations differed (see Levitan and Feldman, 1991). Here cooperative markedly from one locality to another. In fact, relations and social exchange emerged as important. similar themes emerged across the communities we Self-provisioning activities were often intertwined visited. But these themes together reveal that rela- with bartering activities, bringing in social resources tionships with family, neighbors, and employers are as a key variable. People building or remodeling key influences on how people interpret the changes their homes got help from others in exchange for that are occurring in their communities and their future work on the others' projects. The locality as a own reactions to these changes. What we can see web of social relationships provided an additional through the embeddedness framework is the contin- level of well-being and sense of security to partici- uous construction of localities, not only by macro- pants in a variety of economic circumstances. economic forces, but by the history of social relations that provide tolerance and resistance. The These relationships and the feelings they engender process of restructuring involves shifting the are often contradictory, however. For example, the dynamics of relationships by changing the relative social resources that were essential to many self- power of those involved. In the localities we visited, provisioning and informal work activities were restructuring was experienced as a decline in worker revealed in the same discussions that emphasized power, a shifting of family schedules that sometimes independence and the pride of being able to take produced conflicts between husbands and wives, and care of one's family and help one's neighbors. We a greater reliance on activities and relationships heard men express frustration and resentment outside the formal market. because of their low earnings while emphasizing the noneconomic (lifestyle) benefits of living in isolated We looked at group interview data for insights into small towns or on farms. One man articulated these the role of social relationships in decisions about, lifestyle choices as giving 'an illusion of independ- and interpretations of residence and work. Family or ence,' that in the long run might be 'self-defeating.' marital relations are central to the kinds of actions Working night shifts, overtime, and extra jobs were and understandings we studied. In addition, important sources of extra income, but family rela- however, we noted the importance of neighboring tionships bore the cost, leading one married woman relationships for residence and of class relationships to describe herself as a single mother. Women's for work and lifestyle. Some of these relationships labor force participation rates had increased in all were primarily based on a competition of interests, localities we visited, bringing women more visible others were based on mutual accommodation and economic roles and forcing couples to adjust tradi- cooperation. All these relationships are embedded tional notions of 'breadwinners' and 'dependents.' in place, occurring in and helping to define locality. Work, especially for women, was scheduled around family needs but had also become a source of In support of the arguments of Marsden and his identity. Although we did not have to space in this colleagues (Marsden et al., 1993) that the competi- paper to fully explore this issue, it was clear that a tion of interests gives meaning to locality, we point reciprocal relationship existed between the restruc- particularly to the men's discussions of changing turing of employment relations and the restructuring employment relations. Competitive social relations gender relationships in the family and the were also at the heart of their discussions of the community. costs of housing and taxes. In both of these cases, our participants expressed frustration, resentment, Finally, our study suggests gender differences in the and animosity at a class of people with the power to experience and interpretation of rural restructuring impose their interests. We cannot say that these (another benefit of the embeddedness perspective). interpretations of competitive social relationships This paper highlighted a few of these differences; were primarily an effect of gender, locality, or class, others are explored in Tigges (1998). Many of the because we did not hold multiple group interviews women with whom we spoke emphasized family in the same setting. The central role these interpre- safety in their discussions of locality, whereas many tations played in Hayward, the community experi- men emphasized the independence of a rural life- encing an influx of seasonal and recreational home style. Our approach was essentially a 'family strat- owners, suggests that class relations were important egies' approach, which has been criticized for in defining that locality. However, we suspect that ignoring power differentials within households (see 218 Leann M. Tigges et al. Wolf, 1990). The women especially alluded to Granovetter, M. (1985) Economic action and social struc- conflicting interpretations about the sexual division ture: the problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91, 481-510. of household labor that sometimes became manifest Green, G., Tigges, L. and Browne, I. (1995) Social but often lay beneath the surface of spousal rela- resources, job search, and poverty in Atlanta. Research tions. This suggests a dynamic within families that in Community Sociology 5, 161-182. should not be ignored in either qualitative or quanti- Hareven, T. (1990) A complex relationship: family strat- egies and the processes of economic and social change. tative research. As Little (1994, p.22) notes, In Beyond the Marketplace: Rethinking Economy and Society, eds R. Friedland and A. Robertson, pp. The conditions under which women are able to enter 215-244. Aldine de Gruyter, New York. employment are bound up in a package of gender rela- Hanson, S. and Pratt, G. 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