TY  - CHAP
AB  - Purpose This chapter explores how long-distance truckers in the contemporary United States navigate work and family obligations. It examines how Christianity and constructions of masculinity are significant in the lives of these long-haul drivers and how truckers work to construct narratives of their lives as “good, moral” individuals in contrast to competing cultural narratives which suggest images of romantic, rule-free, renegade lives on the open road.Methodology/approach This study is based upon ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, observations of long-haul truckers, and participation in a trucking school for eight months in 2005–2006 and an additional four months in 2007–2008. Using feminist grounded theory, I highlight how Christian trucking provides avenues through which balance is struck between work and family and between masculinity and other identities.Findings Christian truckers draw upon older ideas about responsible, breadwinning fatherhood in their discourse about being good “fathers” while on the road. This discourse is in some conflict with the lived experiences of Christian truckers who simultaneously find themselves confronted by cultural narratives and expectations of what it means to be a good “worker” or a good “trucker.”As these men navigate both work and social locations, gender expectations are challenged and strategies to ameliorate the work/family balance are essential.Originality/value of chapter The chapter contributes to discourse on gender studies as well as to the reshaping of ideology and practices of work and family in contemporary American culture.
VL  - 26
SN  - 978-1-78441-630-0, 978-1-78441-629-4/0277-2833
DO  - 10.1108/S0277-283320150000026004
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320150000026004
AU  - Upton Rebecca L.
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - What Would Jesus Haul?: Home, Work, and the Politics of Masculinity among Christian Long-Haul Truck Drivers
T2  - Work and Family in the New Economy
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Work
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 101
EP  - 126
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -