Cut Adrift by Marianne Cooper

Author:Marianne Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520277670
Publisher: University of California Press

THE INSECURITY SHIFT

If we analyze the Calafato family in terms of who does what in the second shift (housework, child care), we would find a mostly egalitarian couple almost evenly dividing up domestic work between them. But when we analyze the Calafato family in terms of their security project, we find a decidedly unequal division of emotion and labor. By invoking the lens of security, I am purposefully trying to bring to light a distinctive type of work done in families that is a permutation on the second shift; it is the insecurity shift. This type of work is becoming increasingly common due to the rise in instability among many families as a result of the volatile nature of the new economy and the shift in risk.

And this work is performed overwhelmingly by women. Other research points to the feminization of security work, noting that when insecurity strikes families, it is the women who deal with foreclosure notices, seek credit counseling, negotiate with bill collectors, and decide when it’s time to file for bankruptcy, and they suffer from the stress and depression associated with such difficulties.4 My study echoes these conclusions. Among the middle-income families and working-class families in my study, it is the women who take the responsibility for holding on to security. But why?

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