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A review by adfj897
The Second Shift by Arlie Russell Hochschild
5.0
I read this for a Sociology course in my second year of college. The notes below are from my thoughts based on class discussions and also the notes I took while reading the book. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in looking at family and how it is impacted by external factors.
It was interesting to read and talk about the super mom and actually be able to tie it to the research which showed that women worked an extra month in a year in comparison to men in regards to the home. It is also interesting that the research was done in the 1980's because the work done then may still be relevant today. I really like this qualitative research because it's focus is on care.
The sociological imagination (history + present + biography + personal troubles + public issues) is present because personal problems was shown that they could stem from economic and cultural effects. I think the author does a good job at illustrating this throughout the text. I thought the focus on gratitude was very fitting because she was looking at how people cared for one another. I hadn't thought of the industrial revolution as gendered before I read this book either.
QUOTES
"The personal meanings of the second shift differed greatly but to most people the tasks of the second shift either meant ‘ am taking care of’ or ‘I am taking care of someone’" (196)
"Feelings underneath by less articulated and less conscious than the surface ideology page" (200)
"These marital clashes reflect a broader social tension between faster changing woman and slower changing men" (214)
"It is through the different appraisals of such gifts that the major social revolution of our time enters the private moments that make a marriage" (215) - sociological imagination
"Patriarchy has not disappeared; it has changed form" (263)
"Home has become the shock absorber of contradictory pressures from the world outside it" (270)
"The more important cost to women... Is that Society values the work of home and sees women as inferior because they do devalued work" (274)
It was interesting to read and talk about the super mom and actually be able to tie it to the research which showed that women worked an extra month in a year in comparison to men in regards to the home. It is also interesting that the research was done in the 1980's because the work done then may still be relevant today. I really like this qualitative research because it's focus is on care.
The sociological imagination (history + present + biography + personal troubles + public issues) is present because personal problems was shown that they could stem from economic and cultural effects. I think the author does a good job at illustrating this throughout the text. I thought the focus on gratitude was very fitting because she was looking at how people cared for one another. I hadn't thought of the industrial revolution as gendered before I read this book either.
QUOTES
"The personal meanings of the second shift differed greatly but to most people the tasks of the second shift either meant ‘ am taking care of’ or ‘I am taking care of someone’" (196)
"Feelings underneath by less articulated and less conscious than the surface ideology page" (200)
"These marital clashes reflect a broader social tension between faster changing woman and slower changing men" (214)
"It is through the different appraisals of such gifts that the major social revolution of our time enters the private moments that make a marriage" (215) - sociological imagination
"Patriarchy has not disappeared; it has changed form" (263)
"Home has become the shock absorber of contradictory pressures from the world outside it" (270)
"The more important cost to women... Is that Society values the work of home and sees women as inferior because they do devalued work" (274)