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The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times
From the famed author of the bestselling The Second Shift and The Time Bind, a pathbreaking look at the transformation of private life in our for-profit world
The family has long been a haven in a heartless world, the one place immune to market forces and economic calculations, where the personal, the private, and the emotional hold sway. Yet as Arlie Russell Hochschild shows in The Outsourced Self, that is no longer the case: everything that was once part of private life—love, friendship, child rearing—is being transformed into packaged expertise to be sold back to confused, harried Americans.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and original research, Hochschild follows the incursions of the market into every stage of intimate life. From dating services that train you to be the CEO of your love life to wedding planners who create a couple's "personal narrative"; from nameologists (who help you name your child) to wantologists (who help you name your goals); from commercial surrogate farms in India to hired mourners who will scatter your loved one's ashes in the ocean of your choice—Hochschild reveals a world in which the most intuitive and emotional of human acts have become work for hire.
Sharp and clear-eyed, Hochschild is full of sympathy for overstressed, outsourcing Americans, even as she warns of the market's threat to the personal realm they are striving so hard to preserve.
The family has long been a haven in a heartless world, the one place immune to market forces and economic calculations, where the personal, the private, and the emotional hold sway. Yet as Arlie Russell Hochschild shows in The Outsourced Self, that is no longer the case: everything that was once part of private life—love, friendship, child rearing—is being transformed into packaged expertise to be sold back to confused, harried Americans.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and original research, Hochschild follows the incursions of the market into every stage of intimate life. From dating services that train you to be the CEO of your love life to wedding planners who create a couple's "personal narrative"; from nameologists (who help you name your child) to wantologists (who help you name your goals); from commercial surrogate farms in India to hired mourners who will scatter your loved one's ashes in the ocean of your choice—Hochschild reveals a world in which the most intuitive and emotional of human acts have become work for hire.
Sharp and clear-eyed, Hochschild is full of sympathy for overstressed, outsourcing Americans, even as she warns of the market's threat to the personal realm they are striving so hard to preserve.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 27, 2012
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About the author
Arlie Russell Hochschild
36 books646 followersArlie Russell Hochschild is the author of The Outsourced Self, The Time Bind, Global Woman, The Second Shift, and The Managed Heart. She is a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her articles have appeared in Harper's, Mother Jones, and Psychology Today, among others. She lives in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
December 17, 2014
This book had much that I was expecting (which is why I bought it) and some that I wasn't expecting (which is why I had to read it to know what it says), and omitted some of what I was looking for.
I was looking for more of the universal outsourcing, but this book was mostly about wealthy people hiring middle class people to tend to luxuries. Outsourcing kids birthday party planning (and the disastrous daddy-done party by comparison), the wedding planner, the grandma-visitor, etc. are evidence of the detachment that too much money will buy.
What I was hoping for was the more universal aspect of detaching ourselves from music, from love notes, from stories. We are embarrassed to sing because we don't sound like the highly autotuned voices of recording stars. We buy cards from Hallmark to say "I love you" or "My Condolences" and we just sign our names without risking a personal note that might not say things "just right." We have Disney telling our kids stories for a profit, that have no concern for the well-being of the child, the family, or the greater society. My students don't even know the standard and traditional kids' stories that have lasted centuries. How many know nothing of Jack and the Beanstalk, and only the Disney versions of mythology (Hercules), or history (Pocahontas), or foreign lands (Mulan and Alladin).
So, this book was a quick read, brings up a minimal bit of criticism, and begins the conversation that should go so much further.
I was looking for more of the universal outsourcing, but this book was mostly about wealthy people hiring middle class people to tend to luxuries. Outsourcing kids birthday party planning (and the disastrous daddy-done party by comparison), the wedding planner, the grandma-visitor, etc. are evidence of the detachment that too much money will buy.
What I was hoping for was the more universal aspect of detaching ourselves from music, from love notes, from stories. We are embarrassed to sing because we don't sound like the highly autotuned voices of recording stars. We buy cards from Hallmark to say "I love you" or "My Condolences" and we just sign our names without risking a personal note that might not say things "just right." We have Disney telling our kids stories for a profit, that have no concern for the well-being of the child, the family, or the greater society. My students don't even know the standard and traditional kids' stories that have lasted centuries. How many know nothing of Jack and the Beanstalk, and only the Disney versions of mythology (Hercules), or history (Pocahontas), or foreign lands (Mulan and Alladin).
So, this book was a quick read, brings up a minimal bit of criticism, and begins the conversation that should go so much further.
September 4, 2021
A readable, engaging look at the more personal side of the gig economy--wedding planners, personal trainers, nannies, even rent-a-friend services. The author goes for a balance of the informative, the anecdotal, and the personal, but the end result felt a bit slight to me. Some good stories, a few interesting insights, but considering how common this "outsourcing" of life's daily responsibilities has become, many readers may feel like this is a book they could have written themselves. It takes us up to the edge of some big questions, but never delves too deeply for answers.
September 3, 2015
I liked this book. Hochschild surveys the commercialization of intimate life, as the market plays an ever-larger role in how we go about dating, getting laid, marrying, parenting, caregiving, dying, etc. Spurred on by the advance of capitalism and the collapse of community, people increasingly seek market solutions to human problems. Hochschild asks: at what cost? I was most creeped out by the dating, dying, and surrogacy sections.
December 14, 2012
I've been a fan of Arlie Hochschild's sociological research for years. This book continued to be well-written for more than just an academic audience. I highly recommend it. For my longer review, you can see my blog post on it.
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May 15, 2025
The Outsourced Self is the first book that I have read by Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. I first recall hearing about the author in the third year of my Sociology degree—she popularized concepts such as emotional labour. I found The Outsourced Self to have the perfect balance of being entertaining, informative, light-hearted, and reflective. Certain cultural aspects that Hochschild discusses are no longer shocking—such as online dating—but in 2025 I still learned quite a bit from the book. This is one book that I would recommend.
August 29, 2023
I wanted to read Hochscild other books, but the library didn’t have them. I’m glad I picked this book! It reads like short vignettes into peoples lives that outsource their need or people who are offering their services to others in the marketplace.
There are insights to learn from both. They confirm how our American society(probably true if other cultures too, but ours is the most conspicuous) undermines community, disparages government, encourages individualism at the expense of others, marginalizes nonprofits, and glorifies the perfect consumer product.
The days of a “village” taking care of our needs is over, and we must now find the means to pay for our help. Of course that is for the wealthy, the poor and average family are out of luck, unless they become truly indigent and qualify for Medicaid , which only offers healthcare. An elderly indigent can qualify for a Medicaid nursing home, but really means you have no property. It’s really a sad state of affairs!
There are insights to learn from both. They confirm how our American society(probably true if other cultures too, but ours is the most conspicuous) undermines community, disparages government, encourages individualism at the expense of others, marginalizes nonprofits, and glorifies the perfect consumer product.
The days of a “village” taking care of our needs is over, and we must now find the means to pay for our help. Of course that is for the wealthy, the poor and average family are out of luck, unless they become truly indigent and qualify for Medicaid , which only offers healthcare. An elderly indigent can qualify for a Medicaid nursing home, but really means you have no property. It’s really a sad state of affairs!
November 5, 2018
This book shows how people nowadays are getting more and more used to outsourcing even the most intimate tasks of their lives. The focus is on how society builds needs in everyday life, that are not seen as necessity but more as a way to get rid of those chores we don’t like talking care of. I totally recommend it
December 22, 2018
Amazing, deep, made me cry. I love her insightful beautiful writing
April 30, 2020
Not enough analysis and not enough Marxism. Disappointing coming from Hochschild.
May 24, 2023
As with Hochschild's other books, the Outsourced Self deals with the concept of emotional labor and how it is distributed across institutions and demographics. This book specifically details how even the most intimate aspects of our lives are being outsourced to the market, and Hochschild describes how this affects both the outsourcers and outsourcees (hint: its negatively).
I left this book inspired to take back parts of my life that I would otherwise outsource or may in the future outsource. For example, do you really get the full experience of owning a pet if you pay to have it groomed, walked, and let outside twice a day? Do you get the full experience of having a wedding if you have someone else pick the cake, dress, and venue? And if you do this across many hours of your life, do you get the full experience of being human? Perhaps not.
I left this book inspired to take back parts of my life that I would otherwise outsource or may in the future outsource. For example, do you really get the full experience of owning a pet if you pay to have it groomed, walked, and let outside twice a day? Do you get the full experience of having a wedding if you have someone else pick the cake, dress, and venue? And if you do this across many hours of your life, do you get the full experience of being human? Perhaps not.
December 12, 2022
Arlie Russell Hochschild is a well-known sociologist credited with having founded a sociology of emotion. In a previous, outstanding book, The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling, she studies emotional labor, which to cite Wikipedia is:
The book is very readable, it is obviously written for a general public and thus takes great pains to make it relatable, but is short on historical perspectives. For example, in some cultures there are paid professional mourners who are hired to keen at wakes or funerals -no mention is made of them, in spite of the fact that they are closely related to paid graveside visitors. She does not mention how, say, household managers have their roots in butlers or housekeepers, or that nameologists hark back to anthropological rites of naming. She does mention that many of the “new” jobs correspond to tasks carried out in communities tied together by a gift culture of some kind. In Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance: A cultural history of Russia there are fascinating chapters on 18th and 19th century russian aristocrat's emotional dependence on their wet nurses, nursemaids and nannies.
Hochschild is more interested in the current-day jobs themselves, the emotional labor they require, and the social and psychological effects (including alienation) they have on both the service hirer and the service provider. The chapter on surrogacy is excellent as the author looks at the motives, rationalizations and emotional toll for those seeking surrogate mothers, (Indian) surrogate mothers themselves, and business intermediaries such as clinics specializing in surrogacy.
I am particularly interested in how technology impacts or even encourages such outsourcing or structures future work economies, and the possible connections between privacy, intimacy in a technology-mediated world. The author does not dip into these topics, but many of her observations and intuitions could be developed very usefully along these lines.
Hochschild works hard to provide balanced accounts of the psychology of these kinds of jobs; however in her final chapter, she provides a very critical view of their alienating possibilities, since they encourage both parties, but particularly the service hirer, to distance themselves, detaching themselves from patience, the pleasures of accomplishment, the pleasure of the journey, the joy of connecting to others and their faith in themselves, by confining a sense of achievement to results, to the moment of purchase:
...a term first defined by Hochschild [which] refers to the management of one's feelings and expressions based on the emotional requirements of a job.For example [...] flight attendants are trained to control passengers' feelings during times of turbulence and dangerous situations while suppressing their own fear or anxiety. Bill collectors, as well, are often trained to imagine debtors as lazy or dishonest, so they can feel suspicious and be intimidating.As the number of service jobs grows, so too does the amount of kinds of emotional labor.In The Oursourced Self, Hochshild tackles the invention of paid jobs to carry out tasks that used to be considered too personal, intimate or community based to be left to the market economy. In 2012 US society, this includes paid wedding planners, birthday party coordinators, gift buyers, nameologists, graveside visitors, elder-care managers, lunch companions, dog walkers, surrogate mothers, nannies, personal and marriage therapists, parenting counsellors, love coaches, potty trainers, wantologists, and rented “dads”, “moms”, “grandmothers, and “friends” - a very mixed bag indeed.
The book is very readable, it is obviously written for a general public and thus takes great pains to make it relatable, but is short on historical perspectives. For example, in some cultures there are paid professional mourners who are hired to keen at wakes or funerals -no mention is made of them, in spite of the fact that they are closely related to paid graveside visitors. She does not mention how, say, household managers have their roots in butlers or housekeepers, or that nameologists hark back to anthropological rites of naming. She does mention that many of the “new” jobs correspond to tasks carried out in communities tied together by a gift culture of some kind. In Orlando Figes' Natasha's Dance: A cultural history of Russia there are fascinating chapters on 18th and 19th century russian aristocrat's emotional dependence on their wet nurses, nursemaids and nannies.
Hochschild is more interested in the current-day jobs themselves, the emotional labor they require, and the social and psychological effects (including alienation) they have on both the service hirer and the service provider. The chapter on surrogacy is excellent as the author looks at the motives, rationalizations and emotional toll for those seeking surrogate mothers, (Indian) surrogate mothers themselves, and business intermediaries such as clinics specializing in surrogacy.
I am particularly interested in how technology impacts or even encourages such outsourcing or structures future work economies, and the possible connections between privacy, intimacy in a technology-mediated world. The author does not dip into these topics, but many of her observations and intuitions could be developed very usefully along these lines.
Hochschild works hard to provide balanced accounts of the psychology of these kinds of jobs; however in her final chapter, she provides a very critical view of their alienating possibilities, since they encourage both parties, but particularly the service hirer, to distance themselves, detaching themselves from patience, the pleasures of accomplishment, the pleasure of the journey, the joy of connecting to others and their faith in themselves, by confining a sense of achievement to results, to the moment of purchase:
[To protect ourselves from these depersonalizing effects, w]e demarcate symbolic artifacts or places that represent cherished moments of unoutsourced life [...] we engage the market via a secret backchannel to avoid embarrassment or hurt feelings; we compensate for outsourcing in one area of life by setting up a market-free realm or restoring a human touch by forging an emotional connection to the service provider. We substitute. We compensate. We take back. We encapsulate. We compartmentalize. We reach out. We subordinate. We can use several mechanisms of defense [...] These defenses apply to consumers and service workers both. [p. 196]Since it can be argued that such jobs lead to freer markets, the author also asks herself whether freer markets ultimately strengthen families:
[D]o freer markets lead to stronger families?[...] Cuts in public funding that shortens library hours, close state parks, or speed up staff turnover in nursing homes may be a plus for the free market, but they are a blow to families. Less visible, too, is the way in which market values subtly distort family values. For the more we apply market language, habits of emotional detachment, and focus on “the purchase moment”to our most intimate life, the more fragile it becomes. And while we've become very clever at seeing how market and family mix, we're less clever at seeing how they don't. [p. 197]The book is somewhat dated and falls very short of what is going on in 2022: however it is fair to say that the market tendencies and impacts Hochschild identifies and studies have become far more critical, but they have also become very entangled with social networks' business models, deep learning applications, the gig economy, surveillance models and potential developments in affective computing. The further development of a sociology of emotions to these new topics is, in my opinion, a highly critical challenge and I hope Hochshild responds to it in her clear, insightful and engaging style.
March 17, 2022
Sure was a book!
Some parts were very interesting, others a little dated.
Everyone is different and I think the book tries to make that clear but then it can be condescending in some moments, though the author never claims to be neutral.
In 2022 it's interesting to see how some of her predictions shook out. There has been a resurgence in doing things for yourself and a melding of outsourcing and get it done, as with all things it's a compromise.
Some parts were very interesting, others a little dated.
Everyone is different and I think the book tries to make that clear but then it can be condescending in some moments, though the author never claims to be neutral.
In 2022 it's interesting to see how some of her predictions shook out. There has been a resurgence in doing things for yourself and a melding of outsourcing and get it done, as with all things it's a compromise.
February 9, 2018
A great non-fiction book about how we are increasingly outsourcing basic household/life tasks, and with it are outsourcing the need to feel or show emotions. It gives an intimate look into how the nuclear family is changing our perception of caring for and about others.
However, the biographical story-line that tries to connect the different parts of the book falls a little short.
However, the biographical story-line that tries to connect the different parts of the book falls a little short.
July 24, 2018
"In the marketization of personal life, acts that were once intuitive or ordinary ... now require the help of paid experts." (p. 12)
March 15, 2021
When money is the prime mover, things happen that are not good for anything but money
September 12, 2024
A prophetic, sometimes uncomfortable discussion about the ways the market has sought and succeeded to upend and replace our personal, intimate relationships.
January 28, 2016
Disclaimer: I received an ARC (Advanced review copy) of this book.
Years ago in a sociology course, we discussed the mythology of convenience. In particular, the myth versus the reality of the washing machine. A convenience that was suppose to help reduce the amount of time required to do laundry that ended up increasing it. As a child, we didn't have washing and dryer in the home. So we had to go to the Laundromat once a week. That meant we had "school clothes" (which would get removed and hung up immediately upon getting home from school and "play clothes" which often got worn every day for a week unless they got so dirty mom couldn't stand to look at us anymore. And once a week, we'd go off to the Laundromat and spend a couple of hours doing laundry.
When we finally got a washer and dryer, things slowly changed. Play clothes no longer got worn every day of the week, because it was so easy to do a load of laundry. School clothes didn't need to be hung up and worn a second time before getting washed. Over time, the once a week for two hours job of doing laundry because an every day task.
From this perspective, I came into Alrie Russell Hochschild's The Outsourced Self.
Hochschild provides an amazingly intimate look at the commercialization of our family lives. Interwoven with her own personal narrative about her quest to find a live-in care giver for her elderly aunt Elizabeth, Hochschild discusses everything from matchmaking services to wedding planners to professional nameologists that help you select baby names to marriage counselors, nannies, party planners, and "wantologists" who help you figure out what you really want.
In all cases, one of the underlying themes is how our modern conveniences have made us more busy, not frazzled, and more in need of "professionals" to take care of tasks our parents, aunts, uncles, friends, and neighbors once did. As Hochschild navigates the often Byzantine realm of life coaches, rent-a-friend services, surrogate motherhood, and more, we bear witness to a society full of people who have lost the ability to trust their own instincts over the marketplace when it comes to finding a balance in life. Many of the individuals profiled in the book are otherwise successful career people who, despite their financial success, can't find the confidence to tackle family issues without the help of a consultant.
The author has a wonderful ability to dig to the root of the matter. Particularly on the subject of elder care in America, I found myself crying several times as her interview subjects shared their personal experiences as both consumers and service providers. I found myself growing angry at the strange disconnect between the wealthy consumers and their undocumented nannies or the surrogate mothers in India who rented their wombs to rich couples in exchange for enough money to feed their own families. Every personal profile hits the raw nerves beneath the shiny marketplace of the self.
The overall presentation is thoughtful and insightful. This isn't an exposé designed to rile people up or push an agenda. In many ways, this is the story of one woman trying to understand where the idea of family and community ends and the marketplace begins, and finding no clear answers.
Years ago in a sociology course, we discussed the mythology of convenience. In particular, the myth versus the reality of the washing machine. A convenience that was suppose to help reduce the amount of time required to do laundry that ended up increasing it. As a child, we didn't have washing and dryer in the home. So we had to go to the Laundromat once a week. That meant we had "school clothes" (which would get removed and hung up immediately upon getting home from school and "play clothes" which often got worn every day for a week unless they got so dirty mom couldn't stand to look at us anymore. And once a week, we'd go off to the Laundromat and spend a couple of hours doing laundry.
When we finally got a washer and dryer, things slowly changed. Play clothes no longer got worn every day of the week, because it was so easy to do a load of laundry. School clothes didn't need to be hung up and worn a second time before getting washed. Over time, the once a week for two hours job of doing laundry because an every day task.
From this perspective, I came into Alrie Russell Hochschild's The Outsourced Self.
Hochschild provides an amazingly intimate look at the commercialization of our family lives. Interwoven with her own personal narrative about her quest to find a live-in care giver for her elderly aunt Elizabeth, Hochschild discusses everything from matchmaking services to wedding planners to professional nameologists that help you select baby names to marriage counselors, nannies, party planners, and "wantologists" who help you figure out what you really want.
In all cases, one of the underlying themes is how our modern conveniences have made us more busy, not frazzled, and more in need of "professionals" to take care of tasks our parents, aunts, uncles, friends, and neighbors once did. As Hochschild navigates the often Byzantine realm of life coaches, rent-a-friend services, surrogate motherhood, and more, we bear witness to a society full of people who have lost the ability to trust their own instincts over the marketplace when it comes to finding a balance in life. Many of the individuals profiled in the book are otherwise successful career people who, despite their financial success, can't find the confidence to tackle family issues without the help of a consultant.
The author has a wonderful ability to dig to the root of the matter. Particularly on the subject of elder care in America, I found myself crying several times as her interview subjects shared their personal experiences as both consumers and service providers. I found myself growing angry at the strange disconnect between the wealthy consumers and their undocumented nannies or the surrogate mothers in India who rented their wombs to rich couples in exchange for enough money to feed their own families. Every personal profile hits the raw nerves beneath the shiny marketplace of the self.
The overall presentation is thoughtful and insightful. This isn't an exposé designed to rile people up or push an agenda. In many ways, this is the story of one woman trying to understand where the idea of family and community ends and the marketplace begins, and finding no clear answers.
June 10, 2012
The premise of The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times is that Americans are increasingly turning to the Free Market to meet intimate needs formerly met by friends and family. Unlike previous books of hers I have read, most notably The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work and The Second Shift, The Outsourced Self did not seem as "universal" or applicable to all classes of Americans. Hochschild weaves in her own personal narrative of her Aunt Elizabeth to give the book a more personal and accessible tone and Point of View. She takes the narrative from dating to marriage to birth to middle age to death, and the book is well-structured and researched. However, some parts seem far-fetched to touch many or most Americans, i.e. surrogates in India birthing American infants and "rent-a-friend". Other issues such as Home health aides and caregivers and "car managers" for elderly parents seem timely and more relevant... or perhaps it just shows my age? Hochschild offers interesting thoughts about government and free market "creep" into personal intimate areas of American family life in throughout, but particularly in her concluding chapter.
May 19, 2012
Overall, a good look at how the market has shaped our personal lives. Through interviews and personal experiences, Hochschild shows how people have given over personal chores and responsibilities to the market. From online dating and wedding planning to familial skill evaluation and elder care, she argues that the market has rushed in to perform once communally-sourced duties in what they claim is a more efficient way.
Hochschild relates several interviews with people who have been hired to take on these outsourced responsibilities and shows how their jobs caring for others impacts their lives. Most of the outsourcers interviewed were wealthy, and it would have been interesting to see how and what those with lower incomes outsourced.
DISCLAIMER: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy through FirstReads. This did not affect my review in any way.
Hochschild relates several interviews with people who have been hired to take on these outsourced responsibilities and shows how their jobs caring for others impacts their lives. Most of the outsourcers interviewed were wealthy, and it would have been interesting to see how and what those with lower incomes outsourced.
DISCLAIMER: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy through FirstReads. This did not affect my review in any way.
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September 8, 2014Hochschild's report on the changing dynamics of relationships in the internet-age is at times frightening and almost always thoughtful. An exploration of the idea "where does one draw the line?" without necessarily preaching an answer to that question, "The Outsourced Self" brings up a plethora of examples of the way in which modern Americans are adapting to having the internet as a constant companion.
My issue with the book, which probably result from having lived my entire life with the internet, is that Hochschild occasionally seems a bit "future-shocked." While only rarely happening, occasionally Hochschild's account seems to make the value judgment that a certain example is bad, or somehow worse than the personal alternative. But, like I said, these instances are few and far between, and the book is worth reading regardless.
My issue with the book, which probably result from having lived my entire life with the internet, is that Hochschild occasionally seems a bit "future-shocked." While only rarely happening, occasionally Hochschild's account seems to make the value judgment that a certain example is bad, or somehow worse than the personal alternative. But, like I said, these instances are few and far between, and the book is worth reading regardless.
August 11, 2012
The story of Hochschild's search for a long-term care solution for her ailing elderly aunt frames this study of the marketing and consumerism that now afflicts our intimate lives. I've been a fan of Hochschild's works for some time, and found this to be a very readable, personable account of the various fields which have become consumer based, from dating and wedding planning, to child-rearing and party planning, elder care and friends-for-hire. She interviews people who have hired help, as well as those who offer themselves for hire, getting both sides of the story, not judging either party. It is telling that I found many of the services described perfectly normal, or at least, acceptable, which would not have been the case even just ten or fifteen years ago.
January 13, 2014
Another great piece from Arlie Hochschild, whose writing in sociology I have always found to be rewarding reads. From "The Second Shift" to this examination of the trend to consult experts and hire outsiders to manage surprisingly intimate parts of peoples lives, Hochschild offers some nuanced analysis of modern living's pressures and prospects.
Framed with the ongoing story of her own family's experiences of courtship, elder care and more, all linked to the story of her fiercely independent aunt who wants to live on her own as her body fails, this is a gripping yet easy read. Not at all academically remote, "The Outsourced Self" appeals to any modern reader who wants to get a handle on how we've come to a world of love coaches and more.
Framed with the ongoing story of her own family's experiences of courtship, elder care and more, all linked to the story of her fiercely independent aunt who wants to live on her own as her body fails, this is a gripping yet easy read. Not at all academically remote, "The Outsourced Self" appeals to any modern reader who wants to get a handle on how we've come to a world of love coaches and more.
July 9, 2012
The Outsourced Self calls to attention the many ways that american family's have found a public market for private family issues. In this market you can pay to find love, have a child, and even hire help with potty training your children. This book shows how we have pulled away from doing what each person can do to help in the community has lead to the need for a public market to purchase needs you use to be able to find right next door. I found this book enlightning and enjoyable. I recieved this book as a giveaway contest winner.
June 24, 2012
Ms. Hochschild presents the myriad ways that the market has encroached on family and community life. She makes her case through the personal stories of nannies, personal assistants, elder care managers and party planners, as well as those who employ them. It's a worthwhile book to read, and to consider how dramatically our way of living has changed in such a short period of time. The book does not wallow in nostalgia, but asks us to stop our frenzied lives long enough to look at where we are, and how we got here.
May 31, 2012
Her thesis is provocative -- that we're increasingly turning to the market for the kinds of intimate help that in the past we got from families and members of our communities. She didn't quite convince me that it's gone as far as she claims, though. She's right to raise the alarm. The heart of the book was the afterword where she makes her case for fighting for what's public (libraries, parks, public schools) against the encroaching market. I wish she'd made that the center of the book.
July 17, 2012
The words alienation and commodification are not used in this book but they are implied. Hochschild outlines from birth to death the outsourcing of services once provided by ourselves, family and friends. By making these services into something (a commodity) to be bought and sold, we are no longer connected (alienated) to the community. A well organized simple book that easily makes its point with falling prey to nostalgia and emotion.
January 23, 2013
The premise of this book is that as a society we are paying others to do things that families and communities used to do for one another; and what is lost in the process, although the creation of these services - from wedding planning, to life coaching, to education, child and senior care, do provide employment. The writer has a nice style, although I think this could have been effectively presented in a long-form magazine article.
May 27, 2012
I won this book as a first reads!
The outsourced self:intimate life in market times was a wonderfully intriguing book. The author Arlie Russell Hochschild interviewed both sides of different sourced help in the search for her own Aunt Elizabeth.She goes through everyone from dating services to wantologists and everyone in between.
The outsourced self:intimate life in market times was a wonderfully intriguing book. The author Arlie Russell Hochschild interviewed both sides of different sourced help in the search for her own Aunt Elizabeth.She goes through everyone from dating services to wantologists and everyone in between.
August 2, 2012
This was an easy and interesting read but I wish there had been more sociological analysis. The introduction and conclusion were great, but I would have loved to see more commentary with each chapter. I definitely want to read more by this author since she has a clear and concise writing style and fascinating content. 3.5 stars.
April 4, 2015
I think perhaps I'm a bit jaded by my recent nonfiction reading, but this, too struck me as radically obvious: We pay other people to do a lot of things that didn't used to be part of the paid labor market: advise us on emotional matters, clean our houses, bear our children. Sometimes it creates some weirdness. Well, duh.
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