| Sumario: | In her pathbreaking 1989 book, The Second Shift , Arlie Hochschild introduced the idea of the "stalled revolution." In the years since, the phrase has gained prominence and influence among scholars of gender, many of whom now use the term to describe the pace of change in arenas far beyond its original referent: the division of labor at home. Given its outsized role in feminist theory, it is due time to subject the metaphor to an examination. I do so in three parts. First, I trace the history of the feminist literature about the family leading up to Hochschild's introduction of the phrase, explaining how and why the metaphor resonated so strongly with academics studying the family. Second, I empirically demonstrate the subsequent rise of the phrase in academic discourse, showing that it became a prominent discourse metaphor used to capture change and lack of change in gender relations across many social arenas. Finally, I examine the metaphor itself. I note roots in modernist thinking, the assumption of a linear model of time, the passive nature of mechanical metaphors, and the presumption of the inevitability of progressive change. With these observations in place, I offer alternatives for both stall and revolution, noting the changes in US society and feminist theory since 1989. I conclude with a call for further exploration of alternative metaphors and more critical reflection on the metaphors we use to diagnose the present and devise new futures.
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