Work/Life Balance
- 1 March 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
- Vol. 33 (1), 46-56
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886397331003
Abstract
In this article, I contend that the well-intentioned discourse of work/life balance in the popular and scholarly press actually may undermine women's and men's attempts to live fulfilling lives. Drawing on feminist and critical perspectives, as well as my own efforts to find "balance" in a two-career family with two children under the age of 4, I illustrate (a) how the work/life discourse reflects the individualism, achievement orientation, and instrumental rationality that is fundamental to modem bureaucratic thought and action and (b) how such discourse may further entrench people in the work/life imbalance that they are trying to escape.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- The dual-earner dad penalty in salary progressionHuman Resource Management, 1996
- EFFECTS OF THE ALTERNATE FAMILY STRUCTURES ON MANAGERIAL CAREER PATHS.The Academy of Management Journal, 1993
- The relationship of marital status, spouse’s career status, and gender to salary levelSex Roles, 1992
- Aesthetic Understanding of Organizational LifeAcademy of Management Review, 1992
- Promoting work/family balance: An organization-change approachOrganizational Dynamics, 1991
- PSYCHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT AND DISENGAGEMENT AT WORK.The Academy of Management Journal, 1990
- Why executives lose their balanceOrganizational Dynamics, 1990
- The Effects of Marriage and a Working Wife on Occupational and Wage AttainmentAdministrative Science Quarterly, 1982