Families at Work: Expanding the Bounds

1: Being the “Go-To Guy”: Fatherhood, Masculinity, and the Organization of Work in Silicon Valley

5 1 Being the“Go-To Guy” Fatherhood,Masculinity,and the Organization of Work in Silicon Valley Marianne Cooper Driving down a busy freeway into the heart of Silicon Valley, one sees billboards everywhere heralding the arrival of the new economy. Ads for e-mailing, high-speed Internet connections, and dot.com job openings permeate the skyline. Even a sign for Forbes magazine announces, “High octane capitalism ahead.” While it is undeniable that the new economy is here, it is also undeniable that this is largely a male endeavor . A recent report by the American Association of University Women (2000) found that women make up only about 20 percent of information technology professionals and that they receive less than 28 percent of the bachelor’s degrees in computer science. In fact, Silicon Valley itself is often referred to as the “Valley of the Boys,” an appropriate adage now that San Jose boasts the highest number of available single men in the country, surpassing Alaska (Conlin, 2000). It is within this male-dominated, turbo-capitalism environment that the fathers I interviewed negotiate their work and family lives. The intent of my study was to explore the mostly ignored experiences of working fathers. What I discovered through my examination of these men’s work and family lives was the emergence of a newly constituted masculinity that coincides with the new way work is organized in the new economy. Two questions addressing both sides of the work-family equation flowed from this discovery: How does this new masculinity articulate with processes of labor control? And how does it articulate with processes of family life, particularly fathering? Thus my findings are twofold. First, they show that as a gendered construct , this new masculinity functions as a key mechanism of control in high-tech workplaces that rely on identity-based forms of control. Second, they show that the successful enactment of this new masculinity shapes how these fathers both think about and manage their work and family lives. Methods Many researchers report difficulty in recruiting men to participate in studies of this kind (Daly, 1992). However, men eagerly responded to my interview request. I obtained a sample of 20 fathers through various methods. Through friends and acquaintances I sent out an E-mail message requesting one-hour interviews with fathers work-© 2000 by Human Sciences Press, Inc. Reprinted from Qualitative Sociology Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 379-405. 6 Marianne Cooper ing in high-tech companies to discuss how they balance work and family life. I also sent the same E-mail message to the parents’ list server at one large company and a university. I received more than 30 E-mail responses. I ruled out those who were selfemployed , since I wanted to get information about workplace culture, interactions with coworkers, etc. I ruled in knowledge workers who seemed to have significant industry experience in a variety of companies as well as those who worked for wellknown companies in Silicon Valley. I conducted semistructured open-ended interviews with the 20 participants. The interviews took place at cafés, homes, and workplaces and lasted between 1 and 2 hours. All interviews were tape-recorded and fully transcribed. The interviewees work in all different types and sizes of high-tech companies. While some work for large companies that make millions of dollars a year, others work for small start-ups. Thirteen interviewees are software engineers, one is a service engineer, one is an engineering project manager, three are in sales/business development /management, and two are computer researchers. My informants ranged in age from 30 to 44; the average age was 37. Though incomes ranged from $60,000 to $200,000, most were concentrated in the $80,000 to $150,000 range. Except for one informant who was MexicanAmerican and did not have a bachelor’s degree, the rest were white and held college degrees. Three participants had Ph.D.s, two had MBAs, three had master’s degrees in computer science, and one had a master’s degree in math. All fathers are currently married. Seven of their spouses work full-time, four work part-time, three are students, and six are stayat -home mothers. A New Masculinity for the New Economy In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the definition and practice of masculinity reflected by the emergence of the “New Men’s Studies” (Carrigan, Connell, & Lee, 1985; Brod & Kaufman, 1994; Connell, 1995). Much of this scholarship draws upon R. W. Connell...