Work—Life Balance?

Abstract

Based on data generated in autoethnographic conversations among the three authors, in this article the authors critique the prevailing metaphor of work—life balance. They offer instead a conceptualization of the relationship between work and nonwork aspects of life that is more dynamic and less reductionist and in which emotions, as well as issues of autonomy, control, and identity, are integral features. These conversations elucidate home and work realms not as reified entities but rather as elastic constructions reinforced and also at times changed and redrawn in the course of the authors' interaction.