The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times – Service-For-Pay Instead of Family Support by Arlie Russell Hochschild

On May 26, 2012, in Book Reviews, Business & Investing, Nonfiction, Social Studies, by Editor

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.