Assignment 8

1. 1. According to Hochschild, the “second shit” is the work that has to be done around the house such as cook, clean, mow the lawn, laundry, taking care of Joey, being a wife, etc. the second shift includes child, spouse, home, and outside job.

2. 2. Evan and Nancy is a couple with a 4 year old son named Joey. Joey is very close to his mother and most of the times, he prefers to be with Nancy rather than with Evan. Even though Nancy is not a single mother, she acts as if she is. She is the one that takes care of Joey and is also the person who does everything around the house such as cook, clean, take care of Joey, etc. because Evan is never around and barely pays attention to his son, Joey prefers his mother and is hesitant to be with his father. Nancy has been a social worker for seven years and Evan is a warehouse furniture salesman. Even though Nancy one paying job, realistically she has two, being a full-time mother and wife. On another note, Nancy believes that Joey has a sleeping problem. Even though she puts his to sleep at 8:00pm, he won’t go to sleep until after 12:00am. Evan decides to seek ways to get closer with his son by buying him things every week and taking him to different places.

3. 3. The family myth created my Nancy and Evan was to divide household chores. Nancy does the upstairs which includes the living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and the two baths. The downstairs which is Evans job includes the garage, a place for storage and hobbies, take care of the car, and Max, the family dog.

4. 4. According to Hochschild, the purpose of family “myths” is used to solve problems such as the one Evan and Nancy were having. It helped Nancy avoid the harsh truth that her husband was abusing her and did not appreciate her. Nancy and Evan came up with the upstairs-downstairs agreement which they thought would be a solution to their problem. This myth is called the “family myth”. The family myth was an attempt to agree that the problem they were having was just minor.

5. 5. After reading this selection, I found it to be very common within my family. My father is somewhat like Evan because he is the one that takes care of the car, taking things to the storage, and getting the grocery from the car. My father barely does any chores around the house but the only difference is that my mother does not complain about it. When I have a family, I am definitely not going to be like my mother in regards to dividing the house job. I will make sure that my husband or partner will help around the house as well as the outside chores.