The Origins of the Ideal Worker: The Separation of Work and Home in the United States From the Market Revolution to 1950

This article presents a historical analysis of the history of work/home separation in the United States. With the growth of markets and technology, work and home (which had been mixed) became separate and gendered. Early 20th-century offices adapted productivity standards from factories into the new white-collar “ideal worker” norm. By the 1950s, the office culture familiar today was well established—movies, television, and novels glorified the gendered system of professional work while also cautioning men to reserve time for family. Although the workforce has transformed since the 1950s, an ideology that naturalizes work/home separation persists.