The Demands of Work and the Human Quality of Marriage: An Exploratory Study of Professionals in Two Socialist Societies

How do the conditions of work affect personal relations outside of work, espe-cially in marriage? The question is crucial to the quality of living in any modern society. Its importance was recognized early by Karl Marx in his analysis of alienation: alienation at work destroys the human qualities of man and thus the possibility for meaningful personal relationships. A second important condition contributing to a humanly fulfilled relationship between marriage partners is, at least in modern society, a fundamental equality. Here again, Marxists and other social thinkers of the nineteenth century not only recognized the importance of equality in marriage but understood how sexual equality and inequality are rooted in the organization of work and the conditions of production. In an exploratory study, I looked at these problems in socialist societies to see whether serious attempts to reduce discrimination against women in the world of work and changes in some of the conditions of alienation have resulted in changed personal relations in marriage. I limited my study to professionals, not only to improve comparability and to find respondents for this exploratory effort wh