To summarize the reading, the first half of the chapter went into depth about the modern trends of work and maintaining jobs in the United States. It defined 3 kinds of work as Deindustrialization, Globalization, and Offshoring, and each of these has its on individual effect of how American's are effected by the workforce. The chapter also goes into defining social class and the differences between wealth and income and how each effects ones social class. In addition to this the chapter went on to descrive current trends of the middle and working social classes and how they are struggling in this economy or just barely making due, if at all. In the second half of the chapter, the text discusses how working effects the family. The factors of the economy effecting the functioning of a family are the kinds of jobs we work--from low-wage jobs to unconventional shift hours to part-time work and unemployment. The amount of money a person makes effects their level of poverty, if at all, and determines their ability to support others dependent of them. Homelessness is seen to deter people for marrying due to the increased responsibility to struggle to support yourself in addition to those in a potential marriage/family. The person earning the money also makes a difference and effects the family as well--the book outlines this as dual-earner couples v. dual-career couples, and as inequality in the workplace as well, when women are underpaid in their position compared to their male co-workers or husbands. Other characteristics of a person's job has a substantial effect on marriage such as commuter marriages in which spouses live separately solely because of the devotion to their jobs. This has its benefits in allowing each to enjoy their independence however it can lead to divorce and unfaithful partners as well. Policies of certain employers also effect ones family such as the policies on maternal/paternal leave and allowing flexible hours for new mommy's and daddy's.
One of the most surprising things that I learned while reading this chapter of our book was the statement about how one of the main reasons there has been a decline in jobs and employment opportunities is because most of our jobs are being fulfilled by machines. With the increased reliance on technology and many of us take for granted and use generously are now being replaced my robots. I found this surprising because although it may be cost efficient to hire these "mechanical employees" what benefit is it when our economy is plunging for the deep end? If businesses are going down like fireflies to the light because of the lack of employment and recession, then what is stopping these companies that opt to replace people with machinery in going out of business as well? Wouldn't these companies want to hire actual humans to help reduce unemployment and get our country back on its feet? Maybe this just goes to show my lack of knowledge about certain concerns that our country faces but in my opinion it doesn't really make sense to rely on robots to get the job done.
One other thing that stuck out to me was the gender pay gap. The book says that "many employers believe that mothers are less committed than nonmothers to the workplace, less dependable, and less competent. In contrast, fathers are more advantaged than childless men because employers see them as more dedicated to the job and needing a higher starting salary." I don't exactly agree with this statement. First of all, what makes a mother different from father? Gender roles. Well putting those aside, a father is a parent as much as a mother is. A mother still has to provide for her family as well, especially if the welbeing of the family depends on a dual-income, which many average American families do among the middle-class. Even looking at single mothers, they are the sole providers for their family--I would think that if anything else, this would make them more devoted to their jobs and more dependable because as caretaker and provider, they MUST earn to provide for their children. Even married women should not be held to this standard for the same reasons, the have children whom they need to provide for.
What do you guys think? How do you feel about the gender pay gap?
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