Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of The Commodity Frontier, has been one of the most popular voices of feminist sociology over the last decade. Her unusually perceptive work has come up with new ways of seeing gender, work, family life, love, American life, and market transactions. In The Commodity Frontier, Hochschild considers an Internet ad for a beautiful smart, hostess, good masseuse who was to pay $400 weekly by a billionaire businessman. Through the ad, Hochschild looks into drive-by capitalism to commodify even the most basics of social life. In my opinion or thoughts, I think that products that have always been associated with family environment since the past, for instance nannies, birthday planners, and personal chefs among others have are not commodified. Technically, however, according to Hochschild, they have been put into the market. This is because, on the market side, the frontier represents rich people an opportunity to spend a significant amount of time working outside while the poor who occupy these positions are able to devote their family or emotional relationships’ care at a price on behalf of their bosses.
Following Hochschild, the things that should not be commodified rather non-commodities are characterized by strong family ties. According to responses from her students, outsourcing someone to play the role of a wife, mother, close assistance as per the ad is cultural fetish of functions that can be comfortably insourced within a family’s settings (Hochschild, 2004). In addition to close family ties, the non-commodities are mainly characterized by gender and emotion work. One particular importance of Hochschild's work is the revelation that often more than men, women are commercially employed for emotion work.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The values of these commodities reveal a lot about the broad cultural values. First, across all cultures, women are naturally considered as nurturers (Hochschild, 2011). That is why the ad is specific that the applicant for the post should be feminine. Secondly, it reveals how commodification has transformed family life and relationships into services and products that can actually be sold in the market. This has been boosted by the benefits that money can buy. Furthermore, what’s the need for investing in messy emotions like family environments used to do in the past when it ends up in pain, strife, and divorce. This confirms the current broad cultural values where people no longer hold on strong family ties. In America for instance, divorce rates have increased to 50% with a fifth of the households headed by single mothers (Hochschild, 2004). This has reduced the presence of the mother at home as they have to work in more than two jobs to cater for bills. Thus the commodification of family service to a nanny who can play the role in her absence. Generally, the commodity frontier has been there since the Victorian era where urban upper-class parents to give their babies over to rural wet nurses to raise during the first years of life. So the commodity frontier has a history as well as future trajectory, and both are lodged in a local sense of what cultural values seem right.
Companies have perfected the art of presenting such products as they are not commodities through advertisements and businesses. Instead of competing with each other they compete with families. The ads and businesses create an ambivalence by purchasing goods and services that stimulate a family-like experience people want on one hand (Hochschild, 2004). Rather through the myth of capitalism these adverts promise that is people buy certain commodities they can become perfect individuals with perfect social lives and relationships. As current families become less secure about the reliability of care provided, companies are eager to provide what they seek. Drawing upon these services and products is enhancing commodification.
References
Hochschild, A. R. (2004). The commodity frontier. Self, Social Structure and Beliefs: Essays in Sociology. University of California Press, Berkeley, California , 38-56.
Hochschild, A. (2011). The Presentation of Emotion. Доступно на www. pineforge. com/up-data/13293_ Chapter4_Web_Byte_Arlie_Russell_Hochschild. pdf .
