In 1957 William Whyte published his classic study of the lives and mores of men in a white-collar suburb, The Organization Man. Since then the entry of women into the work force in massive numbers has radically changed the workplace and the ethos of middle-class America. Sally Helgesen returns to the Chicago suburbs of Whyte's book and explores in details the lives of professional women in post-feminist America and shows how radically they have changed the workplace, their neighborhoods, and society as a whole.
Working women do not live the kind of cookie cutter lives chronicled in The Organization Man. Balancing work, children, community and spiritual lives, they have become (by necessity) adaptive and creative. Indeed, they've put a great premium on choice, which explains why career switching, entrepreneurship, alternative spirituality non-traditional families, decentralized bureaucracies and many other facets of modern American life are a direct result of the entree of women into the workforce.
Working women do not live the kind of cookie cutter lives chronicled in The Organization Man. Balancing work, children, community and spiritual lives, they have become (by necessity) adaptive and creative. Indeed, they've put a great premium on choice, which explains why career switching, entrepreneurship, alternative spirituality non-traditional families, decentralized bureaucracies and many other facets of modern American life are a direct result of the entree of women into the workforce.
