So How's the Family?: And Other Essays

In this eloquent collection of 13 essays, noted sociologist Hochschild (The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times) links public trends%E2%80%94such as free market capitalism, branding, and globalization%E2%80%94to the intimate world of the family. Exploring the impact of social changes on the family unit's emotional state, she studies "online daters, migrant nannies, commercial surrogate mothers" and other modern phenomena, which serve as catalysts for reflection on changes in public discourse from 1900-2007. Her overriding concern is the ongoing struggle between the demands of the marketplace and the needs of families%E2%80%94how people can strengthen bonds to keep their personal lives personal, and how empathy needs to "cross the barriers of class, race, and gender." She highlights the enormous emotional toll (for both mother and child) on female migrant workers from poor countries who leave their own children behind. Grounded in sociology, Hochschild introduces ideas such as an "emotional commons"%E2%80%94a rich, social ecology%E2%80%94for comprehending how the market of wealthy countries in the "Global North" erodes the social fabric of countries in the Global South and East. The book illuminates the challenges of a deregulated, impersonal global economy and offers suggestions for restoring emotional connections. (Sept.)