ABSTRACT
There has been a consensus that men’s work–life negotiations take place in a multi-levelled context, with interrelated co-effects of the micro-level of individual locations and values, the organizational level of workplace structures, and the macro-level of policies and culture. Indeed, the picture is very complex, involving a range of factors shaping men’s attitudes and practices. Attitudes towards work–life arrangements do not only vary between countries but also between social classes, education, levels of jobs, sector of employment and field of work. Neoliberal economy (recently accompanied by the pandemic crisis) pushes in the opposite direction from work–life balance (WLB) by corporate “colonization” where employees can always be reached and paid work expands into private time and space due to technology. Men have been debated in WLB research primarily as fathers in nuclear heterosexual families of dual-career middle-class couples in rich countries, stretched between work-centred and breadwinning norms of masculinity, and gendered norms of the carefree ideal worker persisting in the organizations. WLB studies should widen the scope of research in exploring intersectional locations and multicultural contexts, new developments, such as the gig economy and digitalization, broader understandings of care, diverse family arrangements and life-course stages.
