Arlie Russell Hochschild's From The Frrying Pan Into The Fire?

1477 Words3 Pages

Nowadays, people are always trying to work hard and earn lots of money, in order to be successful and have better lives; however, when people are busy pursuing success and wealth, their work may interfere with their family time because they spend less time with their families. With the fast development of modern society, people consider Facebook, Twitter, and frozen dinner as ideal methods to save time and be able to keep in touch with others. But the practice is that they have less time to be with their families and friends. In this way, the obsession of work starts to change the relationships with people’s loved ones. In the essay “From the frying Pan into the Fire” by Arlie Russell Hochschild, she claims that capitalistic economy has caused …show more content…

Technology and fast food are products of capitalism, letting people save time and have more time to earn money; however, capitalism, as an economical and social structure, has changed the relationships between people by separating the ideal that technology helps people connect and the practice that technology does not lead to free time but leads to more time loss of work and loss of family, therefore, destroying human relationships with others. Capitalism encourages the de-linking of “ideal and practice” by using technology and commercial products. In today’s modern life, technology plays an important role in people’s lives. One would think that the efficiency of new technology would improve human relationships because it is convenient for him/her to use technology but the result might be different from what he/she imagines. Hochschild uses the example of the Quaker Oats advertisement to show different kinds of ways for busy parents to save time. She states, “Quaker Oats cereal may be a paradigm for a growing variety of goods and services—frozen dinners, computer shopping services, cell phones, and the like—that claim to save time for busy working parents” (185). Because busy parents do not have …show more content…

In order to earn more money, people spend more time on their work instead of with their family. However, more money is not equal to the time people spend with the ones they love. In Gladwell’s essay, he claims that degree of personal connection is very important. He states, “[w] hat mattered more was an applicant’s degree of personal connection to the civil-rights movement” (136). Strong ties play an important role in social activism, which directly lead to succeed of social activism. However, strong ties never formed because of money. A strong personal connection is formed by heart, love and time. Money cannot buy emotion and the time people share with their close friends and families. Strong ties not only necessary in social activism, but also important in family. Some people are busy with their work, so they have less time stay with their parents. In order to keep in touch with their parents, they buy expensive cell-phones for their parents and they think they are filial because they do their best to accompany with their parents; however, all of their conversations are trough cell phones instead of face-to-face communication. Therefore, strong ties become weak because people spend their time on working and they suppose the more money they earned, the happier their family will be. Moreover, capitalism makes people have the wrong definition of

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