Assignment 8

1. According to Hochschild, what is the “Second Shift?

The “Second Shift” is what could be called the second job of a full-time working parent. It refers to the job, after someone completes a full day of work at a full-time job, they then have to come home and start their second job, which includes taking care of household chores, childcare, and other maintenance that the home requires. In this particular study, the dividing of the duties that the second shift required was distributed in a way that left the female doing most of the work and resulted in the male having more time to relax and recover after his day at the office (Hochschild, 1989).

2. Hochschild argues that families create “myths” about their division of household labor. Name and describe the family MYTH created by Nancy and Evan Holt.

The family myth of Nancy and Evan was that Evan had dominated the argument over not contributing to the family’s second shift and Nancy ignored his absence, so she would not have to confront the fact that she was letting Even get away with this, because it would make her feeling like she was not fulfilling her commitment as a mother, and wife.  Nancy also ignored this because she did not want to cause trouble or arguing in their marriage.  Nancy continued to struggle with completing the second shift, without Evan's help, because she did to want to fight an argument that she knew she would loose anyway.  

3. According to Hochschild, what is the purpose of family myths?

 Family myths start when a central problem in the family is causing tension between the members, and the members of the family do not want to address or acknowledge the problem because they do not want to cause stress and arguments within the family, and the individual does not want to feel like they have failed to do their part within the family. The “myth” part becomes developed, as a solution to the imbalance and unacknowledged issues the family is experiencing, even though that solution is usually unequal and leaves one of the family members with more responsibilities than the other members of the family.  The idea of a “myth” isn’t always truthful or honest, but in a lot of cases works for a family so they think they are working together as a cooperative unit.  In other words, some members of the family that are victims of taking on the second shift, with no help from their partner, believe that by keeping quiet, and not addressing the problem is doing the family a favor, because that person feels that nothing will change, even after the problem is addressed, so it is not even worth being brought up in the first place.  They feel it is more productive to accept the challenge, and find a way to make it work with that particular family unit.  

4. How do you expect to divide household labor and childcare when you start a family? Please note whether you intend to work full-time, part-time, or stay at home when married and/or when you have young children.

When I am ready to have a family, and my children are at an age where I can put them in day school, or if they are ready for elementary school, I am planning on teaching full time.  Being that I am planning on being an elementary school teacher, I realize that I will have good hours to coordinate with my children’s schedule and therefore, will be capable of taking on more of the responsibilities of the second shift job.  I plan on cleaning cooking, and caring for the children as much as I possibly can, but I do also expect my partner to want to contribute to my children’s needs also.  I will not expect my husband to clean and cook everyday, but I do expect to see him do those chores whenever he can.  I expect my husband to spend a healthy amount of time with our children, and expect him to do it on his own, and not have to have me suggest it to him.