Commuter Spouses New Families in a Changing World Danielle J. Lindemann
What can we learn from looking at married partners who live apart? In Commuter Spouses, Danielle Lindemann explores how couples cope when they live apart to meet the demands of their dual professional careers. Based on the personal stories of almost one-hundred commuter spouses, Lindemann shows how these atypical relationships embody (and sometimes disrupt!) gendered constructions of marriage in the United States. These narratives of couples who physically separate to maintain their professional lives reveal the ways in which traditional dynamics within a marriage are highlighted even as they are turned on their heads. Commuter Spouses follows the journeys of these couples as they adapt to change and shed light on the durability of some cultural ideals, all while working to maintain intimacy in a non-normative relationship. Lindemann suggests that everything we know about marriage, and relationships in general, promotes the idea that couples are focusing more and more on their individual and personal betterment and less on their marriage. Commuter spouses, she argues, might be expected to exemplify in an extreme manner that kind of self-prioritization. Yet, as this book details, commuter spouses actually maintain a strong commitment to their marriage. These partners illustrate the stickiness of traditional marriage ideals while simultaneously subverting expectations.
Danielle Lindemann is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Lehigh University. She has a husband and a feisty preschooler. Currently, they all live together.
“Lindemann skillfully uses commuter marriages as a lens to examine larger social forces. Her findings highlight the ways that independence and interdependence can coexist and reinforce one another, a salutary lesson for couples everywhere.” —Anne-Marie Slaughter, President & CEO, New America “Danielle Lindemann’s Commuter Spouses flows beautifully. Lindemann skillfully weaves research on commuter marriages into compelling stories and shows how these unique relationships can help us learn about the contours of gender, work, and family life.” —Melissa Milkie, University of Toronto, coauthor of the award-winning Changing Rhythms of American Family Life “Commuter Spouses is an engaging read and gives us the comprehensive examination of commuter marriages that has been needed for decades.” —Laura Stafford, Bowling Green University, author of Maintaining Long-Distance and Cross Residential Relationships
$19.95 paperback 978-1-5017-3118-1 198 pages, 6 x 9
C O R N E L L P R E S S .C O R N E L L . E D U
7