My Final Thoughts and Reflection

At the beginning of this project I was not real sure as to why I was assigned to do research on this specific women sociologist. After reading many of her works, other people’s reviews of her works, and many articles concerning her and what she is known for writing and researching, I started to see the connection. Much of what Arlie Hochschild has devoted her research and writing to is how people are too involved in work these days. She writes how people are workaholics and do not have enough time at home for their own family and end up hiring other people to care for their children or elderly relatives. I am a college student, with two jobs and do not really have much time for anything. Even though I do not have a family of my own or a mate to come home to, I do have roommates and have begun to replace “family time” issues in her articles with “room mate time” for me. I do work too much and by reading a brief article on and many reviews on Hochschild’s book, The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work, I see how this is a real issue that plagues our society.
Hochschild argues that much of lives today are dominated by work, the need for success, and achievement. I agree with this fully, we have discussed many times that society has pushed upon us the need to be successful in life and to do so we need to do whatever it takes to get there. If that means abandoning our children with a nanny that is in the U.S. on a work visa, then fine. I would have to go with this argument. I feel that Hochschild is arguing against this very thing, but I feel that at least a part of her would at least think of doing such a thing with her own children. She did manage to raise her own two children and make it in the male dominated world at UC Berkeley, but I would still beg to differ that she would still contemplate hiring a nanny.
Arlie Hochschild is a very well respected professor, researcher and author, as Barbara Risman said in her review of Hochschild’s, The Commercialization of Intimate Life, “As with all of Hochschild’s work, it is innovative, challenging, and thought provoking.” (Risman, 1). She is a very inspiring author and researcher; she has definitely made me re-think my goals in life and how to go about them. I think that Dr. Hochschild is a woman that I would love to meet and hear her speak, and express in person her thoughts on these issues. I would be honored to even take a class from her one day…wouldn’t that be inspiring! I feel that she would tell me that I am everything wrong that she writes about, thus I have learned how to prioritize my life and how not to make my home my work. I have realized that if and when I do have my own family that in today’s society it is not only important for our children, but for ourselves as well to have a good home life, and to keep somewhat sane.