October 20th Class

“Overworked Individuals or Overworked Families?: Explianing Trends in Work, Leisure, and Family Time” by Jerry Jacobs and Kathleen Gerson

This reading discusses the idea that individuals may be experiencing an increase in the amount of time that they work every week and this is due to changing dynamics of the workforce. It takes into account many perspectives on the matter by examining what other sociologists have said and what research has already been done on the matter.

This reading asserts that “Too much time at work can undermine personal and family welfare, whereas too little time can endanger a family’s economic security and lowers its standards of living.” (p. 40) This means that the balance between work and family is very crucial and the general trend seems to be that many Americans are now working an increased number of hours to ensure that economic security. This alleged increase in hours means a “‘unexpected decline of leisure.’” (p.41) But this reading tries to argue that this may or may not be true.

According to the reading, Schor has uncovered that “women’s annual hours of paid work increased 305 hours between 1969 and 1987, whil emen’s annual total increased 98 hours during this period.” (p. 42) This is a lot, but the author of the study does not agree with the method that Schor arrived at this estimate. This author agrees with the statement that “people are not likely to know the amount of time they spend working in a given week and, given only a few seconds to think about the question, many are likely to give a very rough estimate of their work week,” (p. 43-44), thus making it not a reliable method of measurement.

But the author looks at the possible change in leisure time and alleged increase in average work time differently. There could be an increase in leisure time if you consider men that are retiring at earlier ages and people that postpone full-time jobs in order to continue schooling. These people tend to have more leisure than the average full-time worker. Also, by looking at the family dynamic, it is easier to see that the change in average work time between couples has not increased that much. “Dual earner couples and single-parent families are the groups most likely to feel squeezed between the demands and rewards of work and the needs of family life.” (p. 46) Thus, the author looks at dual earner couples. The results of study found that “The largest increase in working time occurred among dual-earner couples, who also constitute the fastest growing group. Husbands and wives in these marriages jointly devoted 81.3 hours per week in paid employment, up just more than 3 hours per week from 78.0 hours per week reported in 1970.” (p. 50) That is to say that the increase is not dramatic when looking at couples collectively. But looking at different types of couples means different results. For example, where both earners in the dual earner system are college graduates, there is a “3.8-hour-per-week increase in working time…” (p. 53)

It is important though to look at the big picture. “The arrival of children still tends to push men toward stronger work participation while pulling women toward somewhat less involvement, creating a larger gender gap in their levels of work commitment compared to childless couples.” (p. 58) This quote stood out to me because it makes it clear that gender roles that were once part of a past generation’s model of what a family should be are still affecting our generation today. People still feel compelled to fill these traditional roles even though many families now are dual earners rather than based on the breadwinner model. It is interesting to me to see that the past has such an influence even though we are part of a very changing world and society here in the United States.

The Career Mystique by Phyllis Moen

This reading begins with the profile of a couple named Lisa and David. Lisa and David are both individuals that worked outside of the home. But once their careers go too demanding and their home expectations became too much, their relationship was strained and it ended in divorce. They needed to support a lifestyle with a daughter and shared custody of that daughter but to do so, they needed to find a way to take care of her, which meant having more money, which meant a more demanding job.

This exemplifies exactly what the chapter in this book talks about. It talks about Betty Friedan and the feminine mystique which talks about the plagues of women under the rule of men in a society where women are encouraged to stay home and men are encouraged to provide for themselves as well as their families. This is then juxtaposed to the idea of the career mystique, which is “the expectation that employees will invest all their time, energy, and commitment through their “prime” adult years in their jobs with the promise of moving up in seniority or ascending job ladders.” (p. 5) That is to say that if individuals work hard, then they will get far. Through the idea of the feminine mystique, women decided that equality was to be measured by what a man had, a job outside of the home, which means that women then too wanted to work outside of the home and make money. “Many men and women are trying to follow the career mystique, working long hours at demanding jobs only to climb ladders that lead nowhere or else to find the promised ladders no longer exist.” (p. 7) This means that people are working harder and harder but no promotions or new jobs are being given to them. People are geared to working hard in order to succeed but the success associated with that hard work is no longer present.

There is also a changing workforce that has shaped the way we see work today. “At the beginning of the twentieth century, only one in five American women worked for pay. Today, fully three out of five women are employed.” (p. 13) That is to say that more and more women are working as men remain the workforce. This is mainly due to five historical changes that have facilitated this process.

The first change is the fact that “recent shifts in marital and educational paths now challenge conventional notions of the transition to adulthood.” (p. 16) That is to say that more adults are doing more schooling in order to attain these jobs. More schooling and delaying work via school means that there is a “blurred” line between youth and adulthood. (p. 16) The second trend is the idea that “there is a disconnect between the traditional (male) career mystique and the growing number of women in the workforce…” (p. 16) That is to say that there are no longer gender divides which make roles clear and both individuals in a family must now work outside of the home. The third trend, is globalization. There is an emphasis on productivity which means that “mergers and acquisitions” are “restructuring and downsizing” companies which means that more individuals are competing for these jobs. Fourthly, “the revolutions in longevity and retirement, which are challenging conventional notions of old age. The aging of the baby boom generation, record low fertility rates, and increasing life expectancy mean a graying workforce and growing retired force.” (p. 17) Finally, the old ideas of expectations of individuals still persis which leads to “gender discrimination.” (p. 17)

Nowadays, “there is no “normal” life path. Americans marry later or not at all, postpone parenthood, have fewer children (or none at all), move in and out of jobs, in and out of schooling, in and out of marriage or partnerships, and in and out of retirement.” (p. 18) This means that individuals are working longer in order to support a constant change in lifestyle. In my opinion, this constant change in lifestyle lacks the stability that the past generations had. People today are constantly working and trying to get ahead which takes away from the stability that was once associated with marriage and with having a family. This means that it puts strain on individuals to work longer in order to prepare themselves for a change in lifestyle. That is to say that individuals must work and try and obtain assets in order to have the security that individuals once had. This security is now economic in its nature meaning that individuals work harder to gain more money in order to support and changing lifestyle.

The Time Bind by Arlie Russell Hochschild

Chapter 14: The Third Shift

This reading discusses a company called Amerco, where the author conducted her research on managing family time and work outside of the home. Nowadays, work life is spilling over heavily into the home sphere. According to her research, “When asked, “Do you ever consider yourself a workaholic?” a third of fathers and a fifth of mothers answered yes.” (p. 199) That goes to show how much people are working and how aware of the strain that they are putting on themselves and their free time.

Another interesting idea is that many of the workers at this company “feel more “at home” at work” because “working parents feel more at home at work because they come to expect that emotional support with be readily available there.” (p. 200) That is to say that many people form bonds at work with individuals and a lot of their friends are situated in the work environment along with them. Also, they get rewarded for what they do around the office, instead of being rewarded for their “obligations” in the home.

There were four models that the author felt that most people fit into. The first model is the haven model where “work is a heartless world and family [is] still a haven.” (p. 202) That is to say that work is just work and family is still the emotional support and a separate sphere from the work environment. The next model, the traditional model, is where each gender has its own role that it is expected to complete. For example, the men work outside of the home and women (though most work outside of the home today) are expected to deal with the duties around the house as well. The third model, the no-job weak-family model is one that “neither work nor home has any strong attraction for the individual.” (p. 203) This model mostly pertains to those who cannot find a job or sustain a family. The final model, the work-family balance model is where “parents take advantage of family-friendly options at work and do not crave time on the job so much that they are tempted to steal it from time allotted to their children.” (p. 203) That is to say that work is not the most important and does not take away from family life.

The Amerco company uses something called the “Total Quality” method of work. This is where upper level managers and people in positions of power use positive reinforcement to help motivate individuals to work longer hours and to be more productive rather than using money which can discourage some workers who do not receive such benefits. This way, “The Total Quality worker is invited to feel committed to his company.” (p. 206) They even had this cult-like workshop where “workers inscribed their names on one of the immense red banners that hung at the cafeteria entrance” which was “to signifiy their new “commitment”” to Amerco. (p. 208)

The third shift, and title of this chapter is used to signify how individuals must work, come home and work and also work at home. That is to say that they must now manage what they have going on at home with their children which takes a lot of effort and can even feel like work. In my opinion, balancing work and family life must be an incredibly hard thing to do. Individuals must work in our capitalist society in order to be able to have families or in order to be able to take advantage of everything around them, travel, go on vacations, and buy things in addition to providing for their families. As a person who had two working parents, I never noticed how hard they work and they definitely were able to find a balance between working outside of the home and working in the home with my sister and myself. Its just a matter of working hard and having your priorities straight in order to raise the family that you chose to start and now must support.

Chapter 15: Ending the Time Bind

The same company is discussed in this chapter of the book where “Amerco parents applied themselves to evading the time bind and so avoided facing it.” (p. 220) That is to say that these parents, instead of trying to find a balance or working through it, just avoided the issue of finding a balance between family and work.

Many of these parents often have to leave their children home alone because they cannot stay home or leave work early in order to pick them up after school and take care of them. “Many parents in minimum wage jobs cannot afford to hire sitters or enroll their children in after-school programs. But at Amerco it was largely not the minimum wage parents who left their children home alone; they generally called on relatives or neighbors for help.” (p. 224) These parents just do not have the resources to send their children to an organized activity or they chose to justify it by saying “I want my child to be independent.” That is to say, that these parents help justify their leaving their children home alone by saying that they are using it as a parenting technique.

Also, many women are now seen as “a manager of parenthood, supervising and coordinating the outsourced pieces of familial life.” (p. 232) This means that women are normally in charge of rearing children. These same women also pay to have their children raised. The reading discusses many services that can deliver food, take care of your children, teach them during non-school hours, etc. And these mothers oversee the process of how their children are being raised. Whether that means choosing a summer camp or hiring someone to come decorate your child’s room, this means that people are paying to have their children watched over in more than just a babysitting type situation. Parents are now paying for their children to be reared.

Many parents also like to promise things about the future, or see things like they are changing by saying “if I had more time, I would have…” This is what the author calls the potential self. These parents focus on what they could do if they had more time instead of focusing on how they can change for the better. In my opinion, we all wish we had more time to do things, and it is nice to say, “If I had more time, I would…” but I am the type of person that believes if it is something that you really and truly want then it would be something you would get or at least work towards. It is kind of a croc saying that you would do something if you had more time. Instead of complaining fantasizing about your current situation, change it or alter it or work towards something better to improve it.

“Maternal Employment and Time with Children: Dramatic Change or Surprising Continuity?” by Suzanne Bianchi

This reading touches on the changes in time spent with children and the effect on children that is cause by a mother being a worker in the market force. This author argues that even though women are working outside of the home more, it “has been accomplished with relatively little consequence for children.” (p. 401) The argument against this is that a woman working outside of the home takes time away that used to be invested in children. The article then goes on a series of arguments as to what that argument really could be in an attempt to disprove this idea that a women working outside of the home has an effect on time spent with children.

“In the United States and other developed countries, women with fewer children are more likely to be employed; also, over the long term, women’s employment reduces fertility.” (p. 403) This means that women a woman’s job outside of the home has a direct impact on her home life and vice versa. According to Bryant and Zick, “mothers spent an average of 1.2 hours per day in care of family members in both the 1920s and 1970s.” (p. 404) This means that there has not been a dramatic change in number of hours women spend with their children from when the labor force did not have many women (in the 1920s) as to when women really were heavily involved in the market force 50 years later. I feel that people tend to realize that earlier in the twentieth century, women did many things around the house as well and not just reared their children.

The article brings up a good point as well. “[C]hildren would have to be virtually always available to be “invested in” when parents are working…” (p. 405) This means that children are not always around to spend time with their parents. Once children reach a certain age, much of their time is consumed by schooling, which is time that the parent would not have with the child anyway. This is true, but there has been a decline in the amount of time that women spend with their children before they reach school age. “women’s labor force rates certainly have risen dramatically in the past three decades, particularly for women in the most intensive childbearing and child-rearing years…” (p. 407) This means that more women with young children are still working outside of the home. Not only this, but having “More working mothers created demand for early education as part of childcare, for full-day kindergartens, and so forth.” (p. 409) This means that women working outside of the home have created a support system through the community that helps support the demands of the family as well as the demands of working outside of the home.

Men are also taking a more active role in childrearing than before. “Mounting evidence suggests that mothers, on average, have not reduced their time with children and that fathers, at least married fathers, have significantly increased the time they spend with children.” (p. 410) Men are more heavily involved with the rearing of the children now that women are out of the home and part of the labor force. “In 1965, fathers reported having children with them about half as often as did mothers. By 1998, fathers’ time with children was two-thirds that of mothers.” (p. 411) This is clear that there is an increase in an active parenting role by the father figure.

I found this article very interesting because when thinking about women working outside of the home, it never occurred to me that other factors have been involved in child rearing. What I mean by this is that it never really occurred to me that women may not be impacting their families by working outside of the home. They are relatively doing the same amount of work inside the home as decades earlier with the addition of a job outside of the home. That is something very commendable and quite the accomplishment for the female population that has children and works outside of the home.