Being a couple
Being a couple is never an easy thing since we all come from different backgrounds and upbringings. Furthermore, couples do have different analogies when it comes to the upbringing of children. When two people deicides to become a couple, they have to put aside some of their ideologies and thereby form one or abide by one. Hence, being a couple is not only a good thing, but it is also challenging to be one. In her book and subsequent articles, Hochschild and Machung, the two write about the tension that most American families have to endure within their daily lives. The American family struggles to keep up with work as well as house chores and childcare. The reason for writing books is the inspiration she got when visiting and seeing how couples who work and have children. So, she decided to question the fact that how do you make it as a couple considering you are both working? It is never an easy task as most of these families end up hiring a house help, or the mother ends up quitting her job to provide for the family.
The second shift is determined by how the couples keep track of their social location, such as educational attainment and social class. However, if they get to have a particular strain on their social aspect, then that becomes their second shift (p.126). There is a compelling reason from the author that many women in the USA, while trying to work away from home, have ended up losing their marriage, especially they end up being divorced. The author tries to justify her stand and the reason why many couples experience divorce. In the context of work and marriage, there is a gap that exists on the same, which makes women be on the receiving end (129). However, as a sociologist, the authors have tried to justify their reason for the couple fights and how it is affecting marriages. While reading the book, there is a factual representation of why couples do have challenges.
There is a relationship that exists between why couples do have challenges in their marriages and why couples do not have challenges. All these are made possible by the fact that each can sacrifice their second shift to fit into their spouse’s liking. For instance, in the story of Nancy and Evan Holt, it can be deduced that they do not share or have the same ideologies. Nonetheless, the wife’s ideology is based on an egalitarian perspective, while that of the husband is a transitional perspective. An egalitarian perspective, in this case, can be described as when a woman is the one who is solely responsible for all the house chores in the house. In this case, Nancy had considered her career to focus on the house and the kids. Carol and Greg share the same sentiments. The fact that both Greg and Carol decided to adopt the egalitarian way of handling situations shows that the author is strongly putting across the value of ethos. As seen from the example given by the author about Greg and Carol, as a reader, I feel that she is firmly asserting the value of ethos.
Ethos is the definition of moral character that either define or persuaded a person. In her book, Hochschild and Machung posit that Greg as a father while raising their daughter Beverly, he felt like she didn’t like to mean. However, his belief is just a common myth that people may use in order to get away from responsibilities. In a similar manner, Greg asserts that this fundamental myth might be true, but in essence, it is not.
The authors fairly feel that these couples’ moral characters of raising their children together as a form of love display their true moral character. Also, there is a form of character that attracted them to each other, and that is why they decided to co-parent and share duties around the house. The mode of egalitarianism is considered to be one of the ways that can help in restoring dignity in families and one way of resolving couples’ challenges. Thereby when couples resolve their challenges, then it becomes relevant that the author has shown and delivered their thoughts on using ethos. However, pathos, as an emotional aspect of society, has been portrayed in the book.
While trying to ascertain the value of marriage, Seth and Jessica stein another couple who have their difference in the marriage, present to the reader some emotional moments, the two not only have different opinions, but they have differences. Seth, as the husband, can be said to employ the use of male chauvinism and thus focuses more on his leisure time as hi second shift while her wide is more aligned to her career. The second shift in these two is that as a father, he feels that the wife has to take care of the children while the wife thinks it is the duty of both parents. Therefore, there is an emotional imbalance seen because the mother, Jessica, is feeling overwhelmed by being left alone to take care of the children. However, in her defense, she employed a house that helps to take care of their children. The act of relinquishing their duties as parents to the house helps means that their children will have to bear with the emotional imbalance and care that they are not receiving from their parents.
Furthermore, the use of logos in the book is present throughout, as the logos are all about reason. There is a reason why the authors decided to name the title of the book second shift. In the book, the author uses 50 women in their research to bring her point home that women suffer in marriages. Hochschild and Machung try to show the reason and also input some form of reason to the readers. The main audience in her story is the society, which has been demonstrated that women are always oppressed for no reason yet they are married. The men in the book create a sense of reason as to why they should not take care of their children. The men also say using the transitional perspective that women should sacrifice their careers to look after the children in the house. The same sentiment creates a sense of logic since when a couple sacrifices part of what they do for the greater good of their families, then they have shifted to their second shift.
In summation, Hochschild, and Machung, in their book the second shift, try to show to the world that there is another perspective on how marriage is viewed. Through the various lens of philosophy of ethos, pathos, and logos, we can derive that the main author’s objective of showing and proving that marriage has challenges were well articulated. The use of logos in the book is present throughout, as the logos are all about reason. There is a reason why the authors decided to name the title of the book second shift. The second shift in these two is that as a father, he feels that the wife must take care of the children while the wife thinks it is the duty of both parents. Therefore, there is a form of excitement since the authors have proven and shown their reason for the second shift.