Abstract
The concept of work-life-balance (WLB) aims to improve reconciling the areas of work and life, which are considered as structurally divided in society by sociology. This separation is actually discussed as blurring of boundaries between work and other areas of life. Building on this, the article addresses WLB in academia by following the approach of practice theories and discusses findings of an empirical study at an Austrian university. Referring to existing literature the analysis of qualitative interviews indicates that the idea of balancing academic work and life is contradicted by the constitutive logic in the academic field. The guiding image of a “life for academia” dominates the discourse on professional academic practice and private life, and centres work on research and on being present in the academic field as the actual life. © 2016, Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
| Translated title of the contribution | Academic way of life? On practical barriers of the work-life-balance concept in the academic field |
|---|---|
| Original language | German |
| Pages (from-to) | 319-337 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Sept 2016 |
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 504014 Gender studies
- 504002 Sociology of work
Keywords
- Work-Life-Balance, Academia, Scientific Work, Reconciliation, Practice Theory, Discourse Analysis