num_pages: 256
description: From the inside dust To what extent have recent experimental societies sought to alter the traditional status and rights of the sexes, and to what extent have they succeeded? Has the twentieth century produced communes where men and women share power equally? Jon Wagner questions the widely held view that communes tend naturally toward sex-role liberalization. In his overview of communal experiences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries he traces the history of these societies and observes a trend toward rigidity. Based on original fieldwork, the six case studies that follow reveal that modern communes often feature inflexible and hierarchical sex-role systems.
language: English
title: Sex Roles in Contemporary American Communes
titlecomplete: Sex Roles in Contemporary American Communes
publisher: Indiana Univ Pr