TY - CHAP
T1 - Managing Paid Employment and Family Life
AU - Belliappa, Jyothsna Latha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013, Jyothsna Latha Belliappa.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2001) argue that the labour market and family are often in conflict within late modernity because the needs of the labour market, flexibility, individualization and mobility, are antithetical to the needs of family life, stability, rootedness and altruism. Since individualism enjoys high purchase in late modernity, workers are expected to create a highly individualized career path, to be agile, adaptable and mobile. They contend that individualization puts high stress on the family as two individuals struggle to reconcile their divergent career paths, both unwilling to sacrifice their professional aspirations for the benefit of the relationship. This leads to what they call ‘a long and bitter battle’ between the sexes (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 1995: 14). Women are believed to be particularly vulnerable in this conflict because they are caught between the traditional expectation of living for others and the late modern ideal of living a life of one’s own. While Beck and Beck-Gernsheim’s point of reference is the neoliberal society of contemporary Western Europe, their arguments imply a certain universality in these social trends.
AB - Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2001) argue that the labour market and family are often in conflict within late modernity because the needs of the labour market, flexibility, individualization and mobility, are antithetical to the needs of family life, stability, rootedness and altruism. Since individualism enjoys high purchase in late modernity, workers are expected to create a highly individualized career path, to be agile, adaptable and mobile. They contend that individualization puts high stress on the family as two individuals struggle to reconcile their divergent career paths, both unwilling to sacrifice their professional aspirations for the benefit of the relationship. This leads to what they call ‘a long and bitter battle’ between the sexes (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 1995: 14). Women are believed to be particularly vulnerable in this conflict because they are caught between the traditional expectation of living for others and the late modern ideal of living a life of one’s own. While Beck and Beck-Gernsheim’s point of reference is the neoliberal society of contemporary Western Europe, their arguments imply a certain universality in these social trends.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146025310&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85146025310&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1057/9781137319227_6
DO - 10.1057/9781137319227_6
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85146025310
T3 - Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences
SP - 114
EP - 135
BT - Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences
PB - Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
ER -