Gender Schemas in Song Lyrics Series (2 of 3)

This three part series on gender schemas in song lyrics continues with an analysis of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5. An introduction to this series as well as a definition of schemas and their necessity in song lyrics can be found here.

Songs In This Series

As a reminder...

I have chosen the following three songs because they represent three different phases in women's lives: a young woman starting out in the world, a mid-career woman, and a woman who is successfully earned her own money:

JUST A GIRL by No Doubt

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

RESPECT arranged and performed by Aretha Franklin, written by Otis Redding

I've included the lyrics to 9 to 5 for easy reference.

9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

[Verse 1]

Tumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen

Pour myself a cup of ambition

Yawnin' and stretchin' and try to come to life

Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'

Out on the streets, the traffic starts jumpin'

With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

[Chorus]

Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living

Barely gettin' by, it's all taking and no giving

They just use your mind and they never give you credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5, for service and devotion

You would think that I would deserve a fair promotion

Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me

I swear sometimes that man is out to get me

Mmmmm...

[Verse 2]

They let you dream just to watch them shatter

You're just a step on the boss man's ladder

But you got dreams he'll never take away

In the same boat with a lot of your friends

Waiting for the day your ship will come in

And the tide's gonna turn an' it's all gonna roll your way

[Chorus]

Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living

Barely gettin' by, it's all taking and no giving

They just use your mind and you never get the credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you

There's a better life and you think about it don't you

It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it

And you spend your life putting money in his wallet

9 to 5, what a way to make a living

Barely gettin' by, it's all taking and no giving

They just use your mind and they never give you credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

9 to 5, yeah, they got you where they want you

There's a better life and you think about it don't you

It's a rich man's game no matter what they call it

And you spend your life putting money in his wallet

Analysis

Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 is a brilliant study of America’s predominant cultural schemas through the eyes of a feminist protagonist. According to Professor Geert Hofstede’s 6-D model of national culture, America’s relatively high scores in masculinity and individuality in our national culture drive workplace behavior where people strive to be the best they can be.

Hofstede’s framework was developed in 1980 with the goal of determining how national cultures vary, the specific dimensions in which cultures vary, and, in particular, how these cultural norms play out in the workplace. To develop his model Hofstede studied IBM employees in over 50 countries for decades. Today, it is considered the international standard for understanding cultural differences.

Parton first hints at this cultural larger schema through both the title itself and the musical intro which contains the distinct sound of long nails on a typewriter tapping to a determined, optimistic beat. The typewriter is a powerful object schema that conjures up the mental image of a productive, female secretarial pool hard at work. This initial suggestion of America’s workplace values of success and achievement becomes fully cemented with the lyrics “pour myself a cup of ambition” —an event schema—which is the protagonist’s ritual for starting this day, and seemingly every workday. Clearly, she identifies strongly as a member of America's ambitious workforce, describing her commute through a big city “out on the streets...with folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.” Indeed, the repetition of the refrain “9 to 5” metaphorically serves as cultural schema priming as defined in Chen, Ng & Rao’s study, continuously reinforcing the protagonist's self-schema in this regard. This study asserts that Westerners are more willing to pay (or work hard in this case) for a desired outcome and are more impatient than their Eastern counterparts.

The protagonist’s workplace attitudes also embody another dimension of America’s cultural schema as categorized by Hofstede: short-term orientation. She “wants to move ahead” and firmly believes that her “service and devotion” entitles her to a “fair promotion” fairly quickly when compared to other national cultures. The feminist lens is revealed through the use of efficient person schemas. A woman is singing this song who “swears that man is out to get me”, pitting the “boss man” against the female protagonist and her own attempts to climb “the ladder.”

The song departs from its overtones of rugged individualism and masculinity when it widens its lens to reveal new information that the protagonist is not actually alone in her struggles to advance her career, but in the “same boat” with a lot of her, presumably female, “friends.” It is then that she accommodates the idea that “there’s a better life” beyond what her self-schema as an ambitious 9 to 5-er has allowed her to think. She is no longer under the illusion of the dominant cultural schema that her work will someday be reworded on its merit and comes to the feminist and, quite frankly, the cynical conclusion that the system is a “rich man’s game.”

_________

Gender Schemas continued: You can read the part 3 (my final post) in this series — an analysis of the song Respect and my final thoughts — here.