Assignment Title: Analyzing the Second Shift
Created for:  Sociology of Family
Author: M. Bess Vincent, Sociology
Summary:  This short-term integrative learning project explores the dynamics influencing the division of labor in the home. Students (1) collect basic descriptive data about the division of labor at home, (2) analyze it in small groups and (3) write a paper based on the data.
Integrative Learning Elements:  Connections to Experience, Connections to Discipline, Transferable and Applicable, Integrated Communication
Other Elements:  Qualitative Reasoning in the Disciplines, Quantitative Reasoning in the Disciplines, Group Work

In Sociology of Family, we cover a unit on Work and Family.  We learn about the concepts and theories and students read an excerpt from Arlie Hochschild’s work The Second Shift, titled, “Joey’s Problem: Nancy and Evan Holt.”  In the article, Nancy and Evan are married with a pre-school aged child, Joey.  Nancy works the second shift at home, but she has engaged in some emotion work to reconcile her actions with her feminist beliefs.  This frustration and resentment, however, has started to manifest in other areas of the family life, namely through interactions with Joey.  Students read these pieces and then we begin to think about the work/family dynamic.  This assignment is intended to get students to consider: Who does what at home and what affects it?  Is it who works more?  Is it gender?  Is it that marital status or parental status really shapes the division of labor?

To explore these ideas, we (1) collect basic descriptive data about the division of labor at home, (2) analyze it in small groups and (3) write a paper based on the data.

NOTE:  The data collection portion has been adapted from Robert C. Hauhart’s 2007 article, “Teaching About Inequality in a Distance Education Course Using The Second Shift,” published in Teaching Sociology, volume 35, pages 174-183.

PART 1: Data Collection

Approximately 2-3 weeks prior to our discussion of Work and Family, I hand out the instructions and survey instrument to students (see attached document titled, “ILFG_DivisionofLabor_Survey”.  I explain that we will be using this data in our class exercise.  We go over our sampling methods (who qualifies, how to collect survey data, how to code missing/NA data, etc.)  Each student receives 4 copies of the survey and I ask them to bring in the completed surveys by the given due date.

Once the completed surveys are received, I enter the data into SPSS and then produce some basic descriptive statistics.  In addition to reporting data for the whole sample, I divide the data based on certain demographic information collected: gender, marital status and parental status.  There is an example provided in the attachment, “ILFG_DivisionofLabor_Data.”  

PART 2:  Data Analysis

When we get to the unit on Work and Family, we spend time discussing the material in the textbook and we also discuss the case of Nancy and Evan Holt.  As mentioned above, Nancy works hard to convince herself that the division of labor in her home is shared equally, while to the outside observer, it clearly isn’t.  I ask them to write a short reflection where they consider the following:  Which reality matters more: the one we perceive or the one that we “do”?  In addition, I ask them to think about how our divisions of household labor and the rhetoric and emotion work we use to justify it can affect the generation of “Joeys” and how they “do family”.  We discuss these reflections in class.  Then I ask them to consider the survey data that they collected.  Potential questions include:

-Do you see any parallels between the respondents you spoke with and the Holt family?
-Did anyone interview two members of the same household?  Did their answers match?  What do you think affected this?
-Has this led any of you to rethink the way you split labor in the home?

Next, I break the students into groups and provide them the data and ask them to discuss it.  Because our students are not sociology majors, some of them have very little experience analyzing descriptive statistics.  To help them, I have created a set of worksheets that illustrate how to analyze the data.  I explain that while they may find them useful, they are not required to analyze the data through the methods I have laid out. The worksheets are attached under the title, “ILFG_DivisionofLabor_DataAnalysis”.

I work my way around the room helping them to analyze the data and to draw connections between the data and our course readings. I challenge them to see the larger correlations:  what does the data mean?

PART 3:  Position Paper

Once we have analyzed the data thoroughly and students have become comfortable with it, I introduce the paper topic (see attachment, “ILFG_DivisionofLabor_Paper”).  I ask them to write a 2-page position paper where they answer the following question:

Which of the following statuses do you think is most important when determining the division of labor within a household: gender, marital status, or parental status?

They are required to discuss the three statuses and how they correlate with the division of labor (this ties back to the course material).  They must choose one status and then craft an argument using evidence from the survey data.  They conclude with a discussion of the importance of this topic for family life.  I have also provided a grading rubric for this assignment “ILFG_DivisionofLabor_PaperRubric”.