“For Today’ s Career-Woman, Entertaining Means Planning
Because, for her, entertaining means getting home just in time to arrange the flowers, check the table setting or slip into some new clothes before the first ring of the doorbell. Setting aside all thoughts of her working life, the busy career-woman turns back into a smiling, attentive hostess. To bring it off-a welcoming apartment full of flowers, service appropriate to the style of the occasion, good cheer with nothing left out, from the first cigarette to the farewell glass-the woman who spends her life away from home must make up for her absence by possessing the talents of a domestic science consultant. …
How does she entertain? That, of course, depends on the layout of her home, whether she has a dining room or a fixed or fold-away diningbar. That, plus her domestic potential, will decide whether she’ll give dinner parties in the traditional style or offer an elegant, humorous ‘ready-to-serve’ or ‘self-service’ buffet.
As for the cooking, the work is often remote-controlled, notebook in hand, with everything planned in advance. She knows all the time-saving advantages of modern techniques; she has a well rehearsed repertoire of dishes that can be prepared the night before; she’s expert at using the services of a caterer without depersonalizing her menus. That’s how today’s career-woman, a strategist of hospitality, combines charm with efficiency to give the illusion of being 100 percent devoted to her home’”
From ‘Maison et jardin’, 1970, in ‘Distinction’ by P. Bourdieu.
Evocatively Ambiguous 