Review

Author(s): R. Serge Denisoff

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 ADDITIONAL REVIEWS 269
in other nations. Articles by Roby within parents' needs for child care, legislativepro-
each of these major areas succinctly sum- posals, governing childcare centers, eco-
marize and integratethe breadthof coverage nomics, federallysponsored care, early child-
provided. hood programs,industry-provided care, family
No othersingle volume covers such a wide day care, the black child, and child care
diversityof issues affectingchild care as that programsin Norway, England and Wales, the
provided by the original hardcover edition. Soviet Union, and Japan. As someone who
Although the student edition contains only has used the original edition for my own
one-halfof that material,thirteenout of the teaching and research interestsover the past
original twenty-sixarticles, the range of the threeyears it obviouslypains me to have any
text as a survey introductionremains rela- of this excellent material deleted. However
tivelyunaffected.Some of the depth of cover- if the trade-offfor a more compact inexpen-
age has been omitted, suggesting that the sive edition means making some ot the mate-
professionalwill want to continue to utilize rial more accessible to a wider audience, then
the originaledition as a more comprehensive I think the compromises entailed will have
reference. been worththe sacrifice.
What has been retainedis a realisticassess-
ment of the large and growingneed for child
care because of women's increasinglevels of Minstrels of the Dawn: The Folk-Protest
educational attainment,the dependence of the Singer as a Cultural Hero, by JEROME L.
American economy on workingmothers,the RODNITZKY. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Pub-
rise in single-parentfamilies,and the increas- lishers, 1976. 192 pp. $9.95 cloth. $4.95
ing accumulation of research findingswhich paper.
demonstratethe benefitsfor young children R. SERGE DENISOFF
fromearlyeducationaland group experiences. Bowling Green State University
The early chaptersexamine the need for child
care from the developmental perspective of Peter, Paul, and Mary once told a journal-
children,includinginfants,and the resistance ist "Do you realize the power of Peter, Paul,
to the provision of such care which has and Mary? We could mobilize the youth of
emerged from invalid comparisons between America today in a way that nobody else
institutionalizationand group child care. could. We could conceivably travel with a
Within the context of the United States, the presidentialcandidate, and maybe even sway
major historicalevents affectingthe provision an election."The folk trio attemptedjust that,
of child care services over the past hundred failing to get either Eugene McCarthy or
years are examined. Uncoordinated reactions George McGovern into the Oval office.
to the problemsof caringfor childrencreated Sociologists testingthe propaganda power
by family disruption,poverty, immigration, of music have almost unanimouslyfoundthat
depression,and war are revealed to have re- "popular music is popular but not terribly
sulted in a currentfederal fundingmaze of persuasive." Except, perhaps for the already
over sixtydifferent autonomous programsfor committed.
child care or development. The failure of Despite strong empirical evidence, the
this patchwork approach to meet the needs thesisthat "art is a weapon" is a popular one.
of special interestgroups such as blacks, uni- Going back to The Republic, advocates of
versitypopulations,and feministsis examined the far Right and extremeLeft have promu-
in depth. Because the United States lags be- logated the aflectivityof music. This is Rod-
hind other highlyindustrializednations with nitzky'sbasic argument.
highor risingfemale labor forceparticipation, Minstrels of the Dawn is a historyof the
child care systemsin Sweden, Finland, Hun- use of "protest" music by American social
gary, and Israel are described in the context movementsand entertainers.Rodnitzkytraces
of a comprehensivesocial policy. Child care the use of message songs from the early
centers in these countries are discussed in Wobblies to the slick renditionsof Joan Baez.
termsof the distributionof nationalresources, He indicates that movement oriented songs
prenatal and postnatal health and nutrition were quite differentfrom the more individu-
programsformothersand children,maternity- ally directed effortsof Bob Dylan and Phil
leave policies, birth allowances and other Ochs. Moreover, the author dismisses "folk-
income maintenancepolicies, and parent edu- rock" or "folk-rot"as Tom Paxton regretfully
cation programs. termedit, as crass commercialism.
What has been omitted from the student Protest singers are portrayed as "cultural
edition are the more detailed discussions of heroes" indicative of a historical Zeitgeist.

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270 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY: A JOURNAL OF REVIEWS
To illustratehis point, Rodnitzkydevotes in a 1964 interview withNat Hentoff. Ochs
mostof his book to the careersof Woody made a similarstatement to folkloristBruce
Guthrie,Phil Ochs,JoanBaez, and naturally, Jacksonand latermyself(c. 1966). Guthrie's
Bob Dylan.Combining biographical datawith ideologicalcommitment was even questioned
lyricalmaterialtheauthorattempts to capture byhisfriends in the"progressive" movements
thespiritof thestormy1960s. of the 1930s and 1940s. Only Baez acted
PerhapsborrowingfromEsquire's "bard out herlyricsin thepoliticalarena.
of a generation" descriptionof Dylan,Min- Minstrelsof theDawn is a well documented
strels of the Dawn tries to use these four and written book,but a readerhas to accept
figuresas the prophetsof theirtime: "And some of the author'sassumptions. Unfortu-
thewordsof theprophetsare written on the nately,I do not.
subway walls . . .." However, much of this
is fundamentally conventionalwisdom.The
authorassumesthatGuthrieet al. movedthe Marriage, Family and Society: Canadian Per-
heartsand mindsof the studentmovement spectives, edited by S. PARVEZ WAKIL.
and theso-called"counter-culture." Nowhere Toronto: Butterworth & Company,1975.
is thisthesisestablished.Only Dylan-after 515 pp. $8.95 paper.
consciously enteringthecommercial rockfield
-has a gold recordto his name. The rest MARYLEE STEPHENSON
eithertragically died pennilessor, as is the McMaster University
case withJoanBaez, are struggling to survive.
While it is true that Guthrieand Ochs has beencalled
The familyas an institution
were symbolsto certainideologicalgroups, severelyinto questionby severalfeminists.
it is equallycorrectto saymostrecordbuyers One object of theircritiquehas been the
or fans had never heard of them.Indeed, traditional modesof conceptualizing, describ-
A & M did notbotherto releasePhil Ochs's ing,and analyzingthe family(Oakley). The
last albumin the UnitedStatesand Guthrie value of the familyas we know it can be
was neverwitha majorrecording company. debated,butits crucialfunction in themain-
Perhaps"culthero"is a betterdescription tenanceof the statusquo cannotbe denied.
than"culturalhero" since all of the singers That academicshave oftenservedas apolo-
discussedrarelyenjoyeda massivefollowing gistsforit seemsevident.
evenin the so-calledyouthmovement in the If the readerseeksmaterialthatwill help
1960s. Dylan,despitemusiccritics,was vir- make a criticalevaluationof the role of the
tuallyunknownuntilhe switchedoverto the familyin our livestoday,thereis verylittle
rock genre and abandonedprotestmusic. of it in thisbook. Exceptforthe articleby
There are otherproblemswithMinstrels Turkthereis no evidenceof a criticalchal-
of theDawn. The author,unfortunately, did lenge to the methodological assumptionsof
not interviewany of his subjectsor their thesub-discipline of Marriageand theFamily.
associates.Consequently, muchof the mate- Nor is therein this book any evidenceof
Discourseson theoretical
rial is basicallyinterpretative. or moralchallengesto the tradi-
songs as reflective of the artist'smood or tionalapproach.
ideology make poor historicalcases. For As a furtherlimitation, the book's sub-
example,WoodyGuthrie'sBoundfor Glory, title "Canadian Perspectives"is not borne
a primarybiographicalsource, is mostly out in fact. A numberof articleswhich
fiction,yettheauthoracceptsit as fact.Other describethe existing(or changing)family
secondarysourcesare treatedlikewise. patternsof variousethnicgroupsin Canada
More significantly, one can easilyquarrel does not presenta perspective.It provides
with Rodnitzky'sselectionof artists.Pete empiricaldata and analysisin termsof the
Seegeris without questionthemostimportant concernsof the individualauthors,but that
"protestsinger"of thiscentury, yethe is not is all.
featuredin the book (althoughhe is briefly Whatthebookdoesdo, and does thorough-
discussed).Tom Paxton and severalothers ly,is presenttwenty-nine articlesdealingwith
are not mentioned, while Joan Baez, not a the familythroughits "lifecycle."The first
bonifideprotestsinger,receives an entire stage is about settingup a marriage-thus,
chapter. articleson dating,premaritalsex, the law in
Finally, the author misses an essential relationto marriage, thedemography of mar-
point: the protestsingersof the 1960s were riage, etc. The second segmentis on the
essentiallyentertainers,notmovement oriented establishedmarriageand its ending-articles
activistsas Bob Dylan so clearlyindicated on life styles,fertility, interaction patterns,

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