The Book “The Second Shift” by Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Conclusion

Introduction

After reading The Second Shift, the book written by sociologist Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung, I realized that this work is devoted to one of the vital problems of the society. It covers possible conflicts which usually appear between our workplace and our family life. Hochschild argues that nowadays male careers are like a “bomb” to a happy family. The author discloses the idea that working mothers who just at the end of their workday usually begin a new work and take the second shift in the family.

Main text

The author covers aspects that are very important for a family life. Vital problems such as career and home should be discussed by every couple before their marriage in order to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings in the future. I am interested whether young couples realize the difficulties of family life before their marriage. The author states that in our generation, housework is shared equally between a wife and a husband only in twenty percent of all families.

Additionally in dual-career families, it almost always leads to frequent illnesses and chronic exhaustion of wives as they put all their efforts to their second family job. Hochschild was the first to raise such problem and by this he supported many women. I wonder how many women strive to be housewives. The author states that those females who have a public job seem far happier than those who are responsible only for housework.

These facts are really proved but nevertheless career women are easily exhausted and less energetic by the end of their double-work day. The author underlines the fact that all these questions are to be discussed within the family before having children, as additional responsibility needs both couples to put in more effort in the family. Hochschild describes this problem as a kind of gender revolution caused by inequality in the family.

But how can people reach ideal harmony in the family? The basic idea of the author is to show how wives and husbands usually divide their physical and emotional job within the family in order to create a better perception of home. One can observe a vivid line between the labor and home economies presented in the book. The author underlines how the birth of a child changes the flow of life in every family and what it results in.

Hochschild stresses that the second shift is taken predominantly by women, though there are some families in which the second job is fulfilled by men. The author provides a reader with a number of statistical data by which one analyzes the present situation of this problem in the families. From his statistical data, Hochschild shows that men not only work 15 hours less than women do and it makes more than a month per year.

The objective of the author is to show the importance of the problem covering all aspects of family life. Hochschild wanted to stress that this question is based on our psychological nature and in some cases it comes from within the family. It is important to note that some women follow the traditions of their families and take the second shift easily while others want this additional job to be shared with their husbands. Moreover, the main purpose of the author is also to explain the behavior of modern couples. I was interested in examination of the forces influencing our perception of the family. The book presents factors contributing to the behavior of modern couples are provided as follow:

Social experience from the very childhood covering our deep emotions and feelings;
The period of self-concept formation;
People’s work experience;
The period of marital life when people begin to come to terms with others and share something in common;
The levels of cultural beliefs which also formulate our thoughts on the habitual way of life.

All these factors influence the behavior of young couples in the family and form their perception of the rules within a home.

After researching the basic statements of the author I found out that they were stimulated by the idea of “economy of gratitude” which covered values between spouses and the way they were perceived. To illustrate it, Hochschild uses an example that women’s salaries should not be higher than men’s salaries in order not to offend their pride. Such values are presented almost in every family and are strictly followed by its members; otherwise the couple may face misunderstandings.

The author also used a number of real statistical data based on the social polls and family researches. This data gives an opportunity to see the real situation of modern couples and learn the solution of important family problems in order to avoid future difficulties. This book is of use for many women who take the second shift and face the problem of misunderstanding with their husbands.

I wonder whether this data is realistic and presents the real situation of social family life. In analyzing the story of author’s life, one can see that this book is based on Hochschild’s own personal experience. Her fast pace of life made her rethink about combination of her career and family life. Hochschild’s strong demand in having a family, raising her son and developing a career at the same time stimulated her to write this book.

She also suffered daily tensions caused by difficulties at her office and time commitment to her family. This book is closely connected with the social life of that time, with her personal life as sociologist and covered some aspects from her autobiography. Hochschild managed to overcome all her life difficulties and save her marriage and favorite job. To tell the truth, she could not but share her experience with the society and opened the main secrets of overcoming family difficulties connected with the routine, financial problems and housework at the same time.

I realized that the analysis of the book is really of high value, especially for young couples. Strongside of the work lies in the disclosing of the main problems which men and women face and the ways it can be solved.

The author managed to show the methods of economic reconciliation and the main personal needs appearing with the birth of a baby. The author presents a useful structure of how one should discuss such problems and should not rely on myths when deciding how to avoid marital and emotional cost. One point which can be considered as the disadvantage in the book, from my point of view, is its structure. Hochschild did not follow one point of view during the whole research and very often her ideas did not coincide, that is why some utterances seem to look awkward. But in general, the book is really useful and abounds in many vitally important facts.

Conclusion

“The Second Shift” can really change the view on family life of every reader as it is quite impressive and realistic. Unfortunately nowadays, these problems are very seldom discussed within the families and it always results in misunderstanding and quarrels. From my personal point of view, in families where both couples have a full day work, they should share all duties equally, or perhaps, a husband should provide his wife with some help and support rather than ignorance and misunderstanding. This book would compulsory influence personal view of how to combine family life while making a successful career.

Some of us know that it is impossible, but Hochschild’s work would prove just the opposite and change the perception of family difficulties disclosing the possibilities of their solution and highlighting the methods of how to avoid gender conflicts. Every generation has its rules and values but these vital problems would always exist in most families; that is why one should compulsorily read “The Second Shift” and follow Hochschild’s methods of successful family life.

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The Book “The Second Shift” by Arlie Hochschild and Anne Machung

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