Local Social Networks and Domestic Organisations: A Study of Redundant Steel Workers and Their Wives

This paper applies the seminal insight of Elizabeth Bott (1957) to an analysis of the domestic organisation and local social networks of 40 redundant steel workers and their wives.

Certain methodological problems which arose in the course of the research prompted a reconsideration of particular aspects of existing work in this field, and a more detailed specification of the possible patterns of interaction resulting from the independent and joint activities of husband and wife.

The paper outlines three models of social interaction which emerged from the research data, and uses these models as a means of highlighting certain aspects of independent male and female social activity. Finally, the work discusses the implication of different social patterns for the organisation of domestic life and the management of household finance.