A Bridge Over Troubled Borders: Social Class and the Interplay between Work and Life

Samantha Evans; Madeleine Wyatt

doi:10.1177/09500170211041304

A Bridge Over Troubled Borders: Social Class and the Interplay between Work and Life

Samantha Evans^*, Madeleine Wyatt

^*Corresponding author for this work

Human Resource Management

University of Kent

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

97 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Drawing on Border Theory, this article presents a study of the interplay between work and non- work life through the lens of social class. The research answers calls for work-life research to better reflect the diversity of work and non-work domains, looking beyond gender and family concerns typically studied in the field. We interviewed 20 individuals, some of whom had transitioned social class in either their work and/or home life, while others perceived their social class as similar across these domains. From the analysis, five groups of individuals were identified, who experience different work-life outcomes depending on their social class. In doing so, these findings challenge the assumption that social mobility is inherently beneficial and propose that social class acts as a bridge which either facilitates or impedes how successfully individuals are able to move between their work-life domains.

Original language	English
Journal	Work, Employment and Society
Volume	37
Issue number	1
Early online date	27 Feb 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170211041304
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 27 Feb 2022

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10.1177/09500170211041304Licence: CC BY-NC

Social Class and Work Life Interplay_WES_submitted versionAccepted author manuscript, 294 KB
evans-wyatt-2022-a-bridge-over-troubled-borders-social-class-and-the-interplay-between-work-and-lifeFinal published version, 102 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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A Bridge Over Troubled Borders: Social Class and the Interplay between Work and Life

Abstract

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