Research Handbook on Work–Life Balance: Emerging Issues and Methodological Challenges

This innovative and thought-provoking Research Handbook explores the theoretical debate surrounding work-life balance, and provides a reflection on the opportunity to adopt multilevel research approaches and perspectives, along gender and temporal axes. The Research Handbook is an international overview of current research on work-life balance, considered in macro, meso and micro perspectives.   Offering both theoretical reflections and empirical research examples illustrating the multiple strategies through which the different articulations that characterize the work-life intersection can be analysed, this Research Handbook includes analyses of gendered labour, generational assets and technological changes. Contributors provide translation and actualization of specific research practices and methodological choices, focused on different national contexts. The empirical analysis ranges from comparative research based on quantitative methods, to qualitative approaches centered on longitudinal, discursive and narrative perspectives, and mixed-method studies. Further contributions adopt innovative research methods based on the use of digital and visual technologies.   This Research Handbook will be an inspiring read for both undergraduate and postgraduate sociology and social policy students. The book is also addressed to researchers, consultants and policy makers interested in work-life balance issues.

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Work–Life Balance 1 Sonia Bertolini and Barbara Poggio PART I THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 2 Work–life balance and beyond: premises and challenges 8 Anna Carreri, Annalisa Dordoni, and Barbara Poggio 3 Doing research on work–life balance 27 Sonia Bertolini and Rosy Musumeci PART II MULTILEVEL PERSPECTIVES ALONG GENDER AND TEMPORAL AXES 4 Research on work–life balance: a gender structure analysis 50 Emily Hallgren and Barbara J. Risman 5 Work–life balance through the life course 72 Jeanne Ganault and Ariane Pailhé 6 Work-(later) life balance: shifting the temporal frame 90 Anne E. Barrett, Rachel Douglas and Jessica Noblitt PART III COMPARATIVE RESEARCH (APPROACHES AND STUDIES) 7 The household division of labour in Europe: a multilevel perspective 102 Dirk Hofäcker and Simone Braun 8 Subjective work–family conflicts: the challenge of studying self-employed workers 118 Rossella Bozzon and Annalisa Murgia PART IV LONGITUDINAL, DISCURSIVE AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS 9 Qualitative longitudinal research for studying work–family balance (before and after childbirth) 142 Manuela Naldini 10 Fathers in focus: two discursive analyses on addressing men, work and care 160 Suvi Heikkinen, Marjut Jyrkinen and Emilia Kangas 11 Work–life balance for fathers during paternal leave in Norway: a narrative approach 176 Kristine Warhuus Smeby and Ulla Forseth PART V MIXED AND MULTIMETHOD RESEARCH 12 Beyond the lines: gender, work, and care in the new economy – a view from the U.S. 194 Kathleen Gerson and Mauro Migliavacca 13 The effect of childcare facilities on labour market participation among young adults in Estonia: a mixed-methods study 217 Kadri Täht, Marge Unt and Epp Reiska 14 Flexible work arrangements and diversity through a comparative and multilevel lens 237 Eleni Stavrou and Myrto Anastassiadou PART VI DIGITAL AND VISUAL METHODS 15 The gendered labour of work–life balance: using a new method to understand an enduring dilemma 258 Julia Cook and Dan Woodman 16 ‘My work is full of gossipers so I tried to keep my pregnancy secret’: ‘distant’ netnography as a qualitative method for exploring work–life balance among pregnant and breastfeeding employees 274 Caroline Gatrell 17 The performance of oneself through visuals in interviews: queering the work–life binary 293 Marjan De Coster and Patrizia Zanoni Index

About the Author :
Edited by Sonia Bertolini, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin and Barbara Poggio, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy

Review :
‘This wonderful Research Handbook introduces scholarly debates on work-life balance, provides new theoretical approaches and insights, proposes innovative qualitative and quantitative research methods, and uses longitudinal and cross-national research examples in the analysis of how people define and reconcile family and work relationships.’ ‘This excellent collection enriches substantially the work-life balance literature both at the theoretical and empirical level. Focusing on the changing and diversified contexts in which work-life tensions are experienced and balances negotiated across gender and employment relations, the authors shed new light on the different micro and macro dimensions involved, as well as on the importance of a life course perspective. Using a variety of research methods, they look at different kinds of workers and working conditions, highlighting also the ongoing redefinition of the boundaries between (paid) work and other life spheres.’