The too-good wife : alcohol, codependency, and the politics of nurturance in postwar Japan /

The too-good wife : alcohol, codependency, and the politics of nurturance in postwar Japan /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Borovoy, Amy Beth.
Imprint:	Berkeley : University of California Press, ©2005.
Description:	1 online resource (1 volume)
Language:	English
Series:	Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ; 6 Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ; 6.
Subject:	Alcoholics -- Family relationships -- Japan -- Tokyo. Alcoholics' spouses -- Japan -- Tokyo. Parents of drug addicts -- Japan -- Tokyo. Codependency -- Japan -- Tokyo. Social work with women -- Japan -- Tokyo. Sex role -- Japan -- Tokyo. Wives -- Japan -- Tokyo. Alcoholics -- Family relationships. Alcoholics' spouses. Codependency. Parents of drug addicts. Sex role. Social work with women. Wives. Japan -- Tokyo. Electronic books.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11139495

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780520938687 0520938682 1423731468 9781423731467 159875808X 9781598758085 0520244516 9780520244511 0520244524 9780520244528 128235809X 9781282358096
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index. Print version record.
Summary:	Social drinking is an accepted aspect of working life in Japan, and women are left to manage their drunken husbands when the men return home, restoring them to sobriety for the next day of work. In attempting to cope with their husbands' alcoholism, the women face a profound cultural dilemma: when does the nurturing behavior expected of a good wife and mother become part of a pattern of behavior that is actually destructive? How does the celebration of nurturance and dependency mask the exploitative aspects not just of family life but also of public life in Japan?
Other form:	Print version: Borovoy, Amy Beth. Too-good wife. Berkeley : University of California Press, ©2005 0520244516 0520244524

Description
Summary:	Social drinking is an accepted aspect of working life in Japan, and women are left to manage their drunken husbands when the men return home, restoring them to sobriety for the next day of work. In attempting to cope with their husbands' alcoholism, the women face a profound cultural dilemma: when does the nurturing behavior expected of a good wife and mother become part of a pattern of behavior that is actually destructive? How does the celebration of nurturance and dependency mask the exploitative aspects not just of family life but also of public life in Japan? The Too-Good Wife follows the experiences of a group of middle-class women in Tokyo who participated in a weekly support meeting for families of substance abusers at a public mental-health clinic. Amy Borovoy deftly analyzes the dilemmas of being female in modern Japan and the grace with which women struggle within a system that supports wives and mothers but thwarts their attempts to find fulfillment outside the family. The central concerns of the book reach beyond the problem of alcoholism to examine the women's own processes of self-reflection and criticism and the deeper fissures and asymmetries that undergird Japanese productivity and social order.
Physical Description:	1 online resource (1 volume)
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780520938687 0520938682 1423731468 9781423731467 159875808X 9781598758085 0520244516 9780520244511 0520244524 9780520244528 128235809X 9781282358096