ABSTRACT

We began this book by describing the enormous social and demographic changes that occurred in many industrialised countries from the mid-1900s. These changes have dramatically and irrevocably changed the relationship between paid work and the personal lives of workers. No longer are most households based upon a separate spheres, ‘breadwinner-homemaker’ division of labour. Instead, work and personal life are inextricably linked and workers who prefer to maintain an impermeable boundary must make a conscious effort to do so, e.g. by refusing to take work phone calls at home. With the advances in computer and information technology, the segregation of work and family life is made even more challenging. For many working men and women, changed family structures and relationships have created considerable tension between work and family life, pitting these two central life domains in conflict. The resulting stresses and strains experienced by individuals and their families are very damaging.