1. What is "the second shift?"
2. What is the "leisure gap?"
3. Hochschild mentions that she did an earlier study similar to that in The Second Shift. Why did she choose to do another study of the same issues? (i.e., what were the problems/limitations of her earlier study?
4. Hochshild concludes that, somewhat counterintuitively, those men who help out little with domestic chores suffer from their wives' second shift. Why is this?
5. What are some of the main differences Hochschild finds in (a) the types of household work that men and women do and (b) the way in which men and women do this work?
6. What are some of the "costs" of the "second shift" to working mothers?
7. How do the strains of the "second shift" affect couples differently depending on their social class?
8. Hoschschild concludes that many men and women have somewhat inconsistent (or perhaps incoherent) attitudes toward gender roles. Why does she conclude this?
9. She also suggests that intergenerational influences are important. In the cases you read, how are men's and women's gender role attitudes (and behaviors) affected by the experience of their parents.
10. . What does Hochschild mean when she talks about how men "balance" their position in the family vis-à-vis their wives by adjusting their contribution to housework?
11. We talked about the concept of "doing gender" earlier in the semester. What are some of the ways in which the men (and women) studied by Hochschild "do gender"?