The Time Bind

Chapter 14
The Time Bind: Third Shift

This article attempts to show readers the impact that work has had on the everyday family life. Throughout this article Hochschild describes through the use of her one example, Amerco, how the value of private life and the family have decreased do to an increase in the value of work. Her reasoning for a greater emphasis on the work is because people generally feel more appreciated and valued at work than at the home, feeling that even at times work felt more like home and the home felt more like work due not only the fact that work was more interesting to them, but also to the emotional support they received there from their closest friends and the greater recognition that they received at work. Family and work instead of working together, has actually become competition, as Hochschild describes the shift amongst the four different types of families. Hochschild notes that the four different families include the “haven model”, the “traditional model”, the “no-job weak family” and the “work-family balance model,” and the “reversal model” that has recently become popular in working parents. Learning to manage the home and the workplace has through history and changing economic times become something that working parents have had to deal with. However in modern times, work has become a substitute for family time and time spent during the third shift- dealing with the emotions and problems at home. I thought that one of the most important points that Hochschild made throughout her article was that families have become dependent on other forms of entertainment to help them “get through” the emotional part of family life. Entertainment and watching television as a family has been used as a substitute for actually communicating and actually getting to try and emotionally connect with family members. Instead of having their own conversations and making their own jokes as a family, they are laughing and commenting on other’s conversations and jokes of tv families. In response to the “burdens” of the third shift, parents are also completing tasks and activities with their children more rapidly than actually spending time. Working parents depend more on scheduled time to spend time with their children and their spouse due to their busy work schedules and outside commitments that they have to their jobs. And instead of working on contributing to their best ability to their family, they are doing the least so as to save time for work. Another important fact that Hochschild brought up was that those who have the most authority and power in companies, who are mostly men are the only people who can actually launch a family- friendly environment in which the compromises and sacrifices that children have to make due to the amount of time dedicated to their parents’ work could be more balanced, however very few have interest in advocating this work environment, making it harder to bridge the gap between family and work.

Chapter 15
Many working families due to long working hours and heavy job commitments struggle to find the balance between having a gratifying work experience and having a gratifying family life. Hochschild calls this the time bind, in which parents find themselves compromising certain family values and family time for work. One way parents respond to their overwhelming demands of time as Hochschild describes is by leaving their children alone as their primary type of childcare. Many modern day families have decided that leaving their children alone trains them to become self- sufficient and independent, which although it does Hochschild also notes can be dangerous. Leaving one’s child at home can not only encourage more tv time for one’s children, but also exposes children to dangers such as alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, and may cause other problems later down the road such as fear of reoccurring nightmares, fear of noises, of the dark and personal safety. Another solution that Hochschild says that parents make is resorting to time-saving goods and services that speedup regular household tasks and allows parents, especially mothers to buy time. Substitutes for family time include summer camp, pre-ordered meals, and learning centers that allow for children to stay after hours. The concept of buying time so as to avoid actually spending time with your family or with your child to me just sounds irresponsible and selfish. I think that as a parent your primary priority should be taking care of your children, and although I think that outside childcare is acceptable amongst working parents, using childcare and time-saving services that allow parents to avoid spending time preparing dinner for their families is taking away from many of the things that allow families to develop their own values, traditions and quality time essential for building relationships. Hochschild also refers to the potential self and the actual self. Parents decide to separate the potential self from the actual self, so as to acknowledge all of the things they wish they could do if they had the time. It shows their families and especially their children that they have the desire to do and be a more pro- active parent and if they weren’t so consumed with their work, they would do these things and be that person. I think that although the potential self may be in a way making false promises to your family and children, it also shows your family that although you may not have the time right now, you have the desire to spend more time with them and you are constantly thinking about them and the type of person that you want to be for them. This time bind that Hochschild describes throughout her article is something very prevalent in modern times and although there may not be any one direct solution to solving the problem, parents are trying to figure out ways to readjust their time so as to better provide for their family in terms of quality time.

Maternal Employment and Time with Children: Dramatic Change or Surprising Continuity?
Suzanne M. Bianchi

The article Maternal Employment and Time with Children: Dramatic Change or Surprising Continuity by Suzanne Bianchi attempts to understand if the recent increase in the labor force participation of women has resulted in declining time investments in children. I think the most interesting comparison that Bianchi makes is the time spent of employed mothers and non employed mothers. The investigation done by Nock and Kingston reveals that although employed mothers on their longest working day spent less time with children than did non employed mothers and spent less direct “ quality” time with children, the time non employed mothers spent with their children was not devoted to childcare or direct play, but rather time cooking and doing household chores. “Non employed mothers spent more than twice as much time per day with their preschoolers, but the difference in time for direct childcare and play/ education was less than one hour.” Another important point that Bianchi makes is the actual amount of time that children spend at home and not in another form of childcare such as school. Children spend most of their time in an educational setting in which during that time parents are at work. So for long periods of time, and for several years, it would be hard for parents to actually spend time with their children, and then accounting the time that children actually desire to spend with their friends rather than with their family. As a child, I remember being taken care of by family members and especially by neighbors after school before I was at the age to get involved in extra curricular activities. However, during high school, I would stay after school and not get home until six in the evening. As I adjusted my time spent at home and at school, both of my parents also had to do that. They would postpone dinner until my sister and I got home so that we could still have dinner and spend time together. This is an important point that Bianchi makes in her account and in considering good mothering. Another thing that I found interesting was that while mothers on average have not reduced their time with children, married fathers have significantly increased the time they spend with their children.

The Career Mystique

“The Career Mystique is the expectation that employees will invest all their time, energy and commitment throughout their “prime” adult years in their jobs, with the promise of moving up in seniority or ascending job ladders” Based off of the feminine mystique that captures the life of the middle class woman, who lived off of the family wage, the career mystique mirrors this life because it shows the perspective of the man’ life according to the American Dream. Men have become centered around their work because they have had women to take care of the details of the family and the home. The article begins by talking about the lives of Lisa and David, who as an effect of the career mystique have suffered in their personal lives. I think that one interesting point made in the article “ The Career Mystique” is one of the five societal trends that us as the United States face in the ways in which we think about, organize and regulate careers and the life course. In the article, the recent shifts in marital and educational paths that challenge ideas about adulthood is noted. Many students are delaying going to work, and are actually continuing on their educational path, going to graduate school or professional school until they are thirty, remaining economically dependent upon their parents. In modern day America, all genders want to do it all, have a career, be caring parents and happy spouses, and this is all instilled in American institutions. However, the main focus of young people today, is to become successful and skillful in their careers and jobs; allowing institutions to encourage students to center their lives around their career. Success however is harder to come by for minority individuals, and especially with the feminine mystique still ingrained in our society’s heads, it is hard for the career mystique to encompass everyone, and allow for equal opportunity for all.

Overworked Individuals or Overworked Families
Jerry Jacobs, Kathleen Gerson

The article Overworked Individuals or Overworked Families begins with explaining to readers that the demands that an individual faces at work creates limits on the time that individuals can spend with their families. The difficulties in setting the boundary between time and work resides in the fact that “too much time at work can undermine personal and family welfare, whereas too little time can endanger a family’s economic security and lower its standard of living.” I think this is a great point that Jacobs and Gerson make, because I think that as children of working parents we also have to recognize the sacrifices that our parents make in order for us to have a good life. Many times my parents wish that they could stay at home and just relax with my sister and I, but they are not able to always make such sacrifices financially. As our primary providers, they are there to make sure that first and foremost our basic needs that require money are met.
The article begins by stating two theses, one stating that American families are spending too much time at work and another stating that there is an increase in leisure time amongst working parents. The overworked- American thesis however concludes that the increase in annual income is due to the number of weeks worked per year and the increased leisure thesis is due to younger people retiring and people staying in school longer. Jacobs and Gerson also focus working time of the individual versus the dual earner family. Though there is a small increase in the average working time of dual- earner couples as group there is also a number of couples whose joint hours are high. Those couples that have the most education, most prestigious jobs and occupations experience a growth in working time. Another important concern that Jacob and Gerson also brought to this article is the consequences that working time has on children, especially those belonging to single mothers whose sole income is the most depended source of money for the whole family.