A review by alexpghayes
The Second Shift: Working Families and the Revolution at Home by Arlie Hochschild, Anne Machung

3.0

i read the 2012 edition, which was confusing as hell; a large portion of the book is narrated in first person but it's impossible to tell if it's set in the 1980s or the aughts since most of the narrative is from the 80s study, but many of the statistics are much more recent. the ethnography in here is great; hearing married couples talk about how they split labor is really interesting. the theoretical explanation laid over these accounts is less satisfying; a large portion of the book feels more pop than science. at times, this is really frustrating, especially when hochschild reiterates the shallow talking points about the "stalled revolution", the "patriarchy", or the "changing economy" for the 20th time. i understood this to be a foundational piece of work in the sociological canon, but i would probably read something more modern instead--perhaps 'all the rage', which is next on my list