This reading was a lot better than the last one. It was so much easier to understand. I think a lot of this goes way back to when we were talking about the ideal family and family image. As I read this, I kept thinking about the role of each person in the family and how, in today’s society, the role of each person depends on the ideals of the family. I know that in my household, taking care of the house is not something that can be paid to be taken care of by an outside source, but it is a chore that should be shared by the family to help shape the home environment. Others see their house as just another posession and don’t see any problem with having others clean it for them. Some families really have no choice and have temporary help for special situtations. Of course, medical reasons are understood. But the argument of having your house cleaned for you has changed from that of family ideals to “politics of housework,” as the text put it. I found that interesting, but I felt it applied more to upper class than lower or middle. Anyone in middle class that I know has always paid any housekeeper “off the books” and I never understood there to be anything wrong with that. However, for a full-time housekeeper for an upperclass person, I see the need for full-time job benefits and salary though it doesn’t seem it is getting done. As for the section about housekeepers being of lower class and race, from personal experience, the only housekeepers I have ever known have only been white, but yes, lower class. I think a lot of the statistics of race and salary depend on the area the housekeeper is working in at the time. I think cleaning the house is a debate engulfed in a larger situation that our entire society has to deal with; the idea of a changing nation along with changing roles and values. I think the next twenty years are going to portray some of the most crucial development of our society.
Filed under: Uncategorized
