Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:55:57.671Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Paradox of the Contented Female Lawyer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Kathleen E. Hull
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This research note calls attention to some basic but rather neglected questions about life in the legal profession: Are lawyers happy in their work? Do patterns of stratification within the profession translate into differences in work satisfaction? Does satisfaction with different components of legal work vary across employment statuses and practice contexts?

Given that job satisfaction is a highly subjective phenomenon, some sociolegal scholars may question its value as an object of social scientific inquiry. I argue, however, that to ignore the question of lawyers' happiness is a mistake. Despite their limitations, studies of lawyers' work satisfaction can be useful in several ways. First, job satisfaction can be viewed as a stratification measure, complementing more traditional measures such as income and hierarchical position. If satisfaction is unevenly distributed within the profession in some systematic way (e.g., if women are less satisfied than men or if minorities less satisfied than whites), we might interpret this uneven distribution as a form of inequality and seek to explain its causes and possible remedies.

Type
Research Notes
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 33 , Issue 3: Changing Employment Statuses in the Practice of Law , 1999 , pp. 687 - 702
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Law and Society Association

Footnotes

Partial funding for this research was provided by grants from the American Bar Foundation and the National Science Foundation. The author wishes to thank John Heinz, Edward Laumann, Robert Nelson, Ethan Michelson, Rebecca Sandefur, and the anonymous reviewers at the Review for their helpful feedback on this work.

References

American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (1991) The State of the Legal Profession 1990. Chicago: American Bar Association.Google Scholar
Austin, Roy L., & Dodge, Hiroko Hayama (1992) “Despair, Distrust, and Dissatisfaction among Blacks and Women, 1973–1987,” 33 Sociological Q. 579–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bigoness, William J. (1988) “Sex Differences in Job Attribute Preferences,” 9 J. of Organizational Behavior 139–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bokemeier, Janet L., & Lacy, William B. (1986) “Job Values, Rewards, and Work Conditions as Factors in Job Satisfaction among Women and Men,” 28 Sociological Q. 189–204.Google Scholar
Bradburn, Norman M. (1983) “Response Effects,” in Rossi, P. H., Wright, J. D., & Anderson, A. B., eds., Handbook of Survey Research. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brush, Donald H., Moch, Michael K., & Pooyan, Abdullah (1987) “Individual Demographic Differences and Job Satisfaction,” 8 J. of Occupational Behaviour 139–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Phillip E., & Rodgers, William L. (1976) The Quality of American Life: Perceptions, Evaluations, and Satisfactions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Chambers, David L. (1989) “Accommodation and Satisfaction: Women and Men Lawyers and the Balance of Work and Family,” 14 Law & Social Inquiry 251–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crosby, Faye J. (1982) Relative Deprivation and Working Women. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Crosby, Faye J., ed. (1987) Spouse, Parent, Worker: On Gender and Multiple Roles. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Dunteman, George H. (1989) Principal Components Analysis. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, no. 07–069. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Firebaugh, Glenn, & Harley, Brian (1995) “Trends in Job Satisfaction in the United States by Race, Gender, and Type of Occupation,” 5 Research in the Sociology of Work 87–104.Google Scholar
Gruneberg, Michael M. (1979) Understanding Job Satisfaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagan, John, & Kay, Fiona (1995) Gender in Practice: A Study of Lawyers' Lives. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Heinz, John P., & Laumann, Edward O. (1982) Chicago Lawyers: The Social Structure of the Bar. New York and Chicago: Russell Sage Foundation and American Bar Foundation.Google Scholar
Herzberg, Frederick, Mausner, Bernard, & Snyderman, Barbara Bloch (1959) The Motivation to Work. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Arlie Russell (1997) The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodson, Randy (1989) “Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction: Why Aren't Women More Dissatisfied?” 30 Sociological Q. 385–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Deborah K. (1990) “Structural Causes of Dissatisfaction Among Large-Firm Attorneys: A Feminist Perspective,” 12 Women's Rights Law Reporter 9–38.Google Scholar
Jackson, Linda A. (1989) “Relative Deprivation and the Gender Wage Gap,” 45(4) J. of Social Issues 117–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loscocco, Karyn A. (1990) “Reactions to Blue-Collar Work: A Comparison of Women and Men,” 17 Work & Occupations 152–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loscocco, Karyn A., & Spitze, Glenna (1991) “The Organizational Context of Women's and Men's Pay Satisfaction,” 72 Social Science Q. 3–19.Google Scholar
Martin, Jack K., & Hanson, Sandra L. (1985) “Sex, Family Wage-Earning Status, and Satisfaction with Work,” 12 Work & Occupations 91–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menkel-Meadow, Carrie (1989a) “Exploring a Research Agenda of the Feminization of the Legal Profession: Theories of Gender and Social Change,” 14 Law & Social Inquiry 289–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menkel-Meadow, Carrie (1989b) “Feminization of the Legal Profession: The Comparative Sociology of Women Lawyers,” in Abel, R. L. & Lewis, P. S. C., eds., Lawyers in Society, vol. 3, Comparative Theories. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Mottaz, Clifford J. (1986) “Gender Differences in Work Satisfaction, Work-Related Rewards and Values, and the Determinants of Work Satisfaction,” 39 Human Relations 359–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, Michael A., & Atkinson, Tom (1981) “Gender Differences in Correlates of Job Satisfaction,” 13 Canadian J. of Behavioral Science 44–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neil, Cecily C., & Snizek, William E. (1988) “Gender as a Moderator of Job Satisfaction,” 15 Work & Occupations 201–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phelan, Jo (1994) “The Paradox of the Contented Female Worker: An Assessment of Alternative Explanations,” 57 Social Psychology Q. 95–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teitelbaum, Lee F., Lopez, Antoinette Sedillo, & Jenkins, Jeffrey (1991) “Gender, Legal Education, and Legal Careers,” 41 J. of Legal Education 443–81.Google Scholar
Witt, L. Alan, & Nye, Lendell G. (1992) “Gender and the Relationship between Perceived Fairness of Pay or Promotion and Job Satisfaction,” 77 J. of Applied Psychology 910–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed