Most recent publications:
Fighting for Time: Shifting Boundaries of Work and Social Life. (edited with Arne Kalleberg) N.Y. Russell Sage Foundation. 2004
“Great Divides: The Cultural, Cognitive and Social Bases of the Global Subordination of Women. 2007. American Sociological Review. February (forthcoming)
Principal Research:
“The Impact of Law School on Legal Careers in the Public Interest. (Grant from the Atlantic Philanthropies.$438,000) 2000-2004.
“Legal Services for the Poor: Changing Concepts, Changing Environment: A Study of the Legal Aid Society of New York.PSC-Cuny Grant. 1999-2000.
"Workplace Alternatives: A Study of Flexible and Part-time Work in the Legal Profession" Grant from the Alfred Sloan Foundation, 1995-97
The Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession, Grant from The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1992-5
Women in Law: Ten Years Later, Grant from PSC-CUNY, 1989-92
Culture of the Workplace, grant from The Russell Sage Foundation, 1982-1988; 1988- 1991.
Gender and Institutions, grant from The Russell Sage Foundation, 1982‑1990
Changing Role of Women in Music, Research Foundation of the City University of New York, 1982‑84
Women lawyers and the Changing Context of the Legal Profession, Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1977‑78
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant, 1976‑77 National Institute of Mental Health Spencer Foundation Rockefeller Foundation
Women in Decision‑making Positions in Cross‑national Perspectives, Ford Foundation grant, 1975‑77 Research Foundation of the City of New York grant, 1975‑76
Changing Economic and Social Roles of Women, Institute of Life Insurance grant, 1974
Project Director, Study of Black Women in Elite Occupations, U.S. Department of Labor Manpower Administration grant
Research Foundation of the City of New York grant, 1969‑74
Senior Research Associate, Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, "Women in Professions, and in the Legal Profession," Institute of Life Insurance grant,
The Graduate Faculties of Columbia University grant, National Institutes of Health grant, Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor grant, 1965-1968
*Principal Research from Dr. Epstein’s C.V.
Major Works:
Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers, University of California Press, 1970.
“It has been charged that American society pays a high price for ‘keeping women down,’ yet it cannot be shown that a conspiracy or a grand design exists to keep them down. More important, there seems to be little awareness that they are not permitted to rise in society as individuals. Why women typically do not fulfill their promise--especially when that promise has been made explicit by liberal tradition and education-- remains a question unanswered and rarely even asked” (Epstein 1970: 2)
In Woman’s Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers, Dr. Epstein argues that “despite the struggle for equal participation with men in all social and economic spheres, most American women have not adequately exploited their rights and talents” (Eric.ed.gov). Dr. Epstein begins this argument through a survey on the cultural themes and values that directly affect the decisions women make in regards to their careers. Dr. Epstein specifically focuses upon the process of socialization because this process is how individuals come to their own identity and develop a sense of personal limits and options. Dr. Epstein then identifies six major categories of role conflict, “each deriving from the ambiguities and contradictions associated with being both a female and a professional” (Eric.ed.gov). Dr. Epstein then explores both the paths and the obstacles in reconciling the six major categories of role conflict. Dr. Epstein lastly explores different professions, such as law and medicine, and examines these professions “in terms of how women's participation is shaped by structural factors, behavioral norms, and tendencies toward change in each field” (Eric.ed.gov). One reviewer on Woman’s Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers states that “a little torn between objectivity and subjectivity, she is often repetitious, and does not always manage to evade those strident overtones Trollope referred to long ago. It is a pity that those who will read this book probably understand already, and that those who don’t probably will not read it” (Firth 1970: 739).
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1970. Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professional Careers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
2. Women in Law (1981, 1993)
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1993. Women in Law: Second Edition. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
Leserman, Jane. 1982. “Reviewed Work(s): Women in Law, by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein.” Social Forces 61:2 Pp. 622-624. Available: JStor. Retrieved: February 15, 2007.
3. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order (1988)
“Research on gender over the past fifteen years has been oriented toward rectifying the exclusion or misrepresentation of women as subjects in previous research. Much past research that claimed to be valid for all people was conceived and executed from an androcentric perspective and must therefore be reconsidered. Sociology, like political science, economics, philosophy, and psychology, has been blind or biased in its vision of women for decades. The roles of women were neglected or misrepresented in all these disciplines” (Epstein 1988: 1).
In Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order Dr. Epstein provides an overview of American scholarship pertaining to sex and gender up through 1985. Dr. Epstein organizes this analysis through nine different chapters that are on everyday life, politics, family, economic life, social control, gender and the social structure, sociobiology, socio-psychological theories on gender, and finally, research methods. According to Sara Delamont from the University of Wales College of Cardiff, “there are no chapters on health or education, and sexuality is not treated as problematic. The lack of discussion on three topics where feminist perspectives have been particularly vibrant is odd” (Delamont 1991: 154). Throughout this book, Dr. Epstein argues that there is both “horizontal and vertical segregation by sex in the labor market, and suggests that sociologists have offered three main types of explanation for this: socialization, human capital and social structural” (Delamont 1991: 154). Through her exploration on these topics, Dr. Epstein then concludes that “the sexual segregation of the labor market is due to public policy, family pressures, employer discrimination and women’s choices, but that the period since 1965 has seen women moving into traditionally male domains. Once women are allowed to demonstrate competence she claims, they will become acceptable” (Delamont 1991: 154). Sara Delamont is particularly critical of this work by stating that “Epstein has not moved theoretically since she published A Woman’s Place in 1970, and so the main value of this book is its empirical coverage, not its insight or challenge to the taken-for-granted” (Delamont 1991: 155).
Information from:
Epstein, Cynthia Fuchs. 1988. Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order. Connecticut: The Russell Sage Foundation
Delamont, Sara. 1991. “Reviewed Work(s): Deceptive Distinctions: Sex, Gender and the Social Order by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein.” The British Journal of Sociology 42:1 Pp. 154-155. Available: JStor. Retrieved: February 15, 2007.
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