An Ethnographic Case Study on Full-Time Housewives' Strategies for Identity

전업주부는 어떻게 정체성을 유지하는가? ; 사회문화적 압력에 대한 저항과 종교활동 그리고 정당화

This study examines how full-time housewives manage family resources, make decisions, handle pressures, and negotiate the constraints of everyday life in a society that places unrealistic expectations upon them. We approached housewives with an assumption that they are individuals who think, strategize, and solve problems. We also imagined that they are capable of speaking for themselves and making choices under situational and personal limits. Eleven full-time housewives were interviewed on how they experience their marriage, child (or children), family, and society. Their narratives were then analyzed to sort out the strategies the women employ to maintain their identities. The narratives demonstrate the women's will and agency as they work to resolve the contradictions from their daily life, and reveal individual differences in their midst, despite the fact that they had been often considered homogeneous.