The Second Shift

Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this
Review: As a college-age male, one might think that I would have little reason to read a study about the struggles of working women. That is wrong.
This insightful, modest study of family life (witnessed by the capable Arlie Hochschild as a fly-on-the-wall) gives perspective on a dillemma everyone should think about before marriage: how to reconcile economic and personal needs with having children. This problem affects women and men, mothers and fathers.
Unfortunately, it is rarely talked about in our society. People are forced to muddle through using their parents as examples, or to try to construct new strategies from scratch. Hochschild provides a useful structure for discussing the problem and avoiding the emotional and marital cost of relying on "myths." Any serious couple should be able to talk about these subjects to avoid misunderstanding and conflict.
One problem with this book is the writing - the points do not always flow together, and sometimes the sentences are simply awkward. This study is also weighted toward middle class families, though it explores others as well. Despite being over a decade old, this book is still relevant.
Well worth reading, whether you are deciding on a career, getting married, or already trying to balance both.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this
Review: As a college-age male, one might think that I would have little reason to read a study about the struggles of working women. That is wrong.
This insightful, modest study of family life (witnessed by the capable Arlie Hochschild as a fly-on-the-wall) gives perspective on a dillemma everyone should think about before marriage: how to reconcile economic and personal needs with having children. This problem affects women and men, mothers and fathers.
Unfortunately, it is rarely talked about in our society. People are forced to muddle through using their parents as examples, or to try to construct new strategies from scratch. Hochschild provides a useful structure for discussing the problem and avoiding the emotional and marital cost of relying on "myths." Any serious couple should be able to talk about these subjects to avoid misunderstanding and conflict.
One problem with this book is the writing - the points do not always flow together, and sometimes the sentences are simply awkward. This study is also weighted toward middle class families, though it explores others as well. Despite being over a decade old, this book is still relevant.
Well worth reading, whether you are deciding on a career, getting married, or already trying to balance both.

Rating:
Summary: Review of "The Second Shift"
Review: Excellent examination of the Dual-Earner family and the changes this is causing to America's traditional familial structure. Hochschild brings attention to many of the tensions within the working family and discusses causes and solutions. Her idea of a stalled cultural revolution is riveting.

Rating:
Summary: Review of "The Second Shift"
Review: Excellent examination of the Dual-Earner family and the changes this is causing to America's traditional familial structure. Hochschild brings attention to many of the tensions within the working family and discusses causes and solutions. Her idea of a stalled cultural revolution is riveting.

Rating:
Summary: Anyone with husband,kids ,and a carreer--this is for you!!
Review: If you have kids, carreer, and a husband, you must read this enlightning social probe into the lives of families just like yours. You will feel 'comfort' knowing that you are not alone if you are feeling crazy, anxious, or overwhelmed. Before you quit your job, or think of having another child.....Read this!!!

Rating:
Summary: If you want something well written, this isn't it.
Review: Probably a first of its kind study about families with two-working parents. However, the writing is poor, redundant and cliched. The cases she presents don't suggest much variability except income and ethnicity. Additionally, she skimps on a serious evaluation of what would make a successful household with two working parents and instead leaves us with the overwhelming feeling that success is almost impossible.

Rating:
Summary: If you want something well written, this isn't it.
Review: Probably a first of its kind study about families with two-working parents. However, the writing is poor, redundant and cliched. The cases she presents don't suggest much variability except income and ethnicity. Additionally, she skimps on a serious evaluation of what would make a successful household with two working parents and instead leaves us with the overwhelming feeling that success is almost impossible.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read For All Women!
Review: This book gives insight ,through the real life studies of a number of married couples ,into the lives and everyday struggles of women. It shows how societal values and stereotypes about women and their "role" contribute to this struggle of working three full-time jobs. (work, house , children)- Everybody knows at least one person who can relate to the true accounts in this book. very educational but, also a little depressing in that it shows what a long way women still need to come to achieve equality in the home.

Rating:
Summary: The Inherent Evils of Combining Work and Home
Review: This book infuriated me to no end. Such helpless and hopeless case studies of men married to women(many of whom worked full-time) with children, who still refused to share equally at home. In my humble opinion, married couples who decide to have children should insure that one of them will be at home full-time until the child is at least in adolescence. Hochschild simply states that there should be a happy medium of sharing with men and women, and that the government should introduce more profamily policies. Personally, I take offense with the ever-popular suggestion that the government should pay for people's children. Enough money is wasted as it is. Having children is a choice; choose to have children, then pay for it. Anyway, men whose wives stay at home I take no issue with, but men whose wives also work full-time should either do half the work at home, pay for a housekeeper, or quit their jobs. Especially those men who earn less than their wives and still insist on remaining ne'er do-wells at home. Believe me, the chapter on the loser who works at a bookstore while his wife earns three times as much as he does at an executive job will make you tear your hair out.

Rating:
Summary: The book that defined the problem of women's double day
Review: This groundbreaking book was the first that dared to speak the hidden truth--that despite women's advances in the workplace, we still perform the bulk of the unpaid, unfulfilling chores at home. Unfortunately, far too many of the solutions Hochschild proposes involve government programs--not too practical, in my view. My marriage was in a state of emergency, so I hired a twenty-hour-per-week housekeeper. My experiences, including a dramatic improvement in my whole family's quality of life, led me to write "A Housekeeper Is Cheaper Than a Divorce: Why You CAN Afford to Hire Help and How to Get It." If the disparity of who does what at home is causing strife in your marriage, you can start with Hochschild's book to understand the problem, but be warned that you'll have to look someplace else for a solution.