Naming Practices: Fields, Solidarity, and Power

• In Event: 209 - Theory Section Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Theory Section Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. General Theory

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to expand two theoretical ideas using the empirical topic of women’s naming practices upon marriage. In the United States, common custom for many years dictated that women take their husbands’ names upon marriage. Since the 1970s, legal restrictions to this regard were removed and second‐wave feminists considered this to be a strong forward move for women. However, not all women decide to keep their names. An alteration to classical field theory can help us understand how the women who find themselves situated firmly in both the public field of work and the semi‐private field of family are the ones for whom naming options are more salient. Applying feminist critiques of power can help us understand how names are a symbolic center of tension between increasing power and decreasing solidarity.

Author

• Karen Hooge, University of Notre Dame