Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Julie Brines

Reviewed work(s):
The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home by Arlie Hochschild ;
Anne Machung
Source: Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Feb., 1990), pp. 278-279
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/352858
Accessed: 19/09/2008 10:02

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 Book Reviews

TheSecondShift: WorkingParentsand theRevo- inequalitycontestedor managedwithin the con-

lution at Home. Arlie Hochschild,with Anne text of the relationship?Whatdistinguishesthose
Machung.New York:Viking, 1989.xx + 309 working couples who share the houseworkand
pp. $18.95. child care from the vast majoritywho do not?
To addressthese issues, Hochschildand her
associatesinterviewed50 dual-earnercoupleswith
"The most fruitfuldistinctionwith which the childrenresidingin the San FranciscoBay area
sociologicalimaginationworks," wroteMills, "is and a "supportingcast" of the couples'day-care
betweenthe 'personaltroublesof milieu'and 'the providers, neighbors, and friends. Hochschild
public issues of social structure.'" In this path- also observed10 of the 50 familiesat home during
breakingbook, ArlieHochschild,followingMills, weekendsand eveningsoverperiodsrangingfrom
shows how working parents' strugglesover an two to five years. These coupleswere selectedto
ostensiblypersonal,domesticproblem-the "sec- cover the range of household arrangementsevi-
ond shift" of houseworkand childcare-are also dent in the interviewmaterialsand to provide
strugglesover the interpersonalmanagementof reasonablevariationby race/ethnicityand social
wider social, economic, and cultural pressures class. The entiredata-gatheringprojectran from
bearingon genderand familyroles. In so doing, 1978to 1988,yieldinga wealthof informationon
she imaginativelylinks privatetroublesto social- the rhythmsof work and familylife amongthese
structuraltensions,revealinghow the problemsof couples.
the second shift, and perhapsof a satisfactory Hochschild argues that men and women
marriagein contemporarysociety, remain im- employ "gender strategies"in the quest for a
mune to purelyprivatesolutions. solution to the problemsof providingchild care
Hochschild begins with a straightforward and gettingthe houseworkdone. A "genderstrat-
question:in two-job marriageswith young chil- egy" encompassesa courseof actioninformedby
dren present,how do couples manageto juggle culturalmessages(transmittedvia myths, rituals,
job demands,family care, and householdtasks? stories and jokes, media images, etc.) regarding
The initialanswershe offers will surpriseno one: notionsof "maleness"and "femaleness,"as well
these matters are juggled by wives. But for as the emotion-work one does in pursuing a
Hochschild,this only raisesmorequestions.If, as course of action. It is not reducible to one's
she calculates, employed women with children gender ideology (although this is certainlyone
spendan extramonthperyearof 24-hourdayson component);rather,the strategyis a complexar-
work (be it paid work, housework,or child care) ticulationof one's ideasand feelingsaboutgender
beyond what their husbandsspend, what effect and marriage,and the actionshe or she takes on
does this "leisuregap" haveon marriagein an age behalf of them. In Hochschild's view, the in-
of divorce, on self-identity in an age of terplay of the wife's and husband's gender
egalitarianism? Whataccountsfor the size of this strategies and the wider social and economic
gap betweena wife and husband,and how is this pressuresthat impinge on them determinehow

278
BookReviews 279

couplesactuallydividehouseworkand childcare. The Americanizationof Sex. Edwin M. Schur.

The uneveneffects of thesepressureson men and Philadelphia:Temple UniversityPress, 1988.
women help to explain why the problemof the 229 pp. $24.95.
second shift is so often resolvedvia the working As a 15-yearteacherof the sociology of sex-
mother's"doubleday."
uality,I was, at first,put off by the ethnocentrism
By showinghow the often baroquedance of of this title. But what I found was a captivating
genderstrategiesleads to the creationof "family book thatexploresfamiliarissuesin newwaysand
myths"(Chapters4, 5, and 7) and "economiesof raiseschallenging,ambitiousquestionsabout the
gratitude"(Chapters6, 8, and 11) that can over- culturaland economiccontext of sexuality.
ride the expectedimpact of money, social class, Schur'sthesis is that sex in Americais deper-
careerinvolvement,or ideology, TheSecondShift sonalized, commodified, and coercive. While
breaksrefreshinglynew theoreticalgroundon the these tendenciesmay have spreadto other West-
subjectof workandthe family.Thisbook offersa ern, industrializedsocieties,he arguesconvincing-
treasuretrove of insightson the genderdynamics
ly that they stem from distinctive features of
of modernmarriageand, in so doing, advances American culture: "our superficialityand op-
our understandingof how intimaterelationships timisticpragmatism,our individualismand com-
betweenwomenand men today actually"work." pulsive competitiveness;the power-seekingand
Thereare, however,limitations.Giventhe small, violencein Americanlife, our fixationwith 'suc-
unrepresentative natureof her sample, the most
cess', our entrepreneurialinstinct, our runaway
obviousproblemsconcerngeneralizability andtheconsumerism" (p. 10). Adopting this broad
absenceof controlsfor multiplesourcesof varia- culturalframeworkleads to the conclusionthat
tion. More troublesomeis the unevenmannerin
profound changesin social structureand values
which Hochschildflags the sources of evidence are neededto improvesexualrelations.We don't
she uses to develop her portraits.For the most need less sex or more sex, but ratherto acknowl-
part, it remainsunclearhow she gainedaccessto edge that sex is socially constructedand alter
the underlyingmotives and feelings that often those socialconditions.Endingpatriarchalsubor-
playedpivotalroles in the developmentof gender dination and the objectificationof women are
strategies.Finally,the analogyshe drawsbetween crucial in moving toward a "saner and more
circumstancesconfrontingtoday's workingwife humanesexualsituation"(p. 198).
and the "urbanizingpeasant" in the early 19th Schurexaminesthe extent of depersonalized,
century(Chapter16) is weak. The analogyunne- commercial, and coercive sexual relations and
cessarilydetractsfrom the essentialpoint-name- their culturalcontext. Becausethese sexual rela-
ly, that today women'srolesand expectationsfor tions are intertwinedwith each other and with
life differmorefromtheirmothers'thanmen'sdo
genderpolitics,thereis some redundancyin both
from theirfathers',and that this differencein the
the discussionand the remedies.Becausehetero-
pace of changehas led to a stallin the revolution
sexual relations predominate, we are left to
of women'sroles. wonderwhetherandhow same-sexrelationsavoid
The above qualificationsaside, The Second these problems.
Shift standsas a majorcontributionto the field, Beginningwith depersonalization,Schurdem-
advancingprovocativenew ideas that promiseto onstrateshow the sexual revolution"liberated"
challengeif not change readers'views of mar- us fromthe relationalcontextof sex, whilefroma
riage, gender,and the sexualdivisionof labor. Itsocialexchangeview, sexualpleasureis something
is one of those rarebooks that successfullymarry
to "get" from interchangeablepartners. As
high popular appeal with sophisticated and researchersand teachers, we contribute to a
creativeanalysis,therebyofferinglargedividends mechanicalview of sex by quantifying sexual
to lay and specialistreadersalike. behaviorand using "value-neutral"frameworks
JuLIEBRINES to avoid controversies.
Universityof Chicago When such depersonalizationis rampant,ob-
jects quickly become commodities. Schur's