Becker-Schmidt was born on 6 May 1937. Starting in 1957, Becker-Schmidt studied
sociology,
philosophy,
economics and
social psychology at the
Goethe University Frankfurt, and at the
Sorbonne in Paris. Muharrem Acikgöz situated her in the second generation of the
Frankfurt School; she was a student of Adorno's. In particular, Becker-Schmidt influenced the development of feminist
critical theory, especially in German-speaking countries. Her approach was associated with the so-called Hannoverian approach in feminist-oriented sociology. She criticised the positions of critical theory, especially
Adorno and
Horkheimer, with regard to their ambivalent attitude to the complex of gender relations and how these critical theorists were oblivious to feminism. Becker-Schmidt conducted empirical research on female factory workers, developing her own
social theory based on her findings. Her first project was entitled "Problems of Mothers who are Wage Laborers", and consisted of interviews with sixty factory workers, of whom half who were still working and half who had withdrawn from factory work. Her research shed light on the "double burden" faced by women factory workers: the responsibility for domestic work combined with the responsibility for contributing to the income of the family. She developed the concept of
double socialization of women through wage labour and domestic work: the two spheres come from two different social realms with different logics, and were both separated and connected. Her research focused on both the objective demands of work, and the subjective realities of the worker. In each setting, time functioned differently: in the factory, women must not lose time; while when taking care of children, women must forget about time. The two realms were seen as recombined through relationships (assumed to be heterosexual) and in the efforts of women to have both a career and family life. She was honoured for her life's work the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie in 2020. Becker-Schmidt died on 14 September 2024 after a severe illness, at the age of 87. == Publications ==