Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries through Everyday Life / Edition 2

by Christena E. Nippert-Eng

Overview

Do you put family photos on your desk at work? Are your home and work keys on the same chain? Do you keep one all-purpose calendar for listing home and work events? Do you have separate telephone books for colleagues and friends? In Home and Work, Christena Nippert-Eng examines the intricacies and implications of how we draw the line between home and work.

Arguing that relationships between the two realms range from those that are highly "integrating" to those that are highly "segmenting," Nippert-Eng examines the ways people sculpt the boundaries between home and work. With remarkable sensitivity to the symbolic value of objects and actions, Nippert-Eng explores the meaning of clothing, wallets, lunches and vacations, and the places and ways in which we engage our family, friends, and co-workers. Commuting habits are also revealing, showing how we make the transition between home and work selves though ritualized behavior like hellos and goodbyes, the consumption of food, the way we dress, our choices of routes to and from work, and our listening, working, and sleeping habits during these journeys.

The ways each of us manages time, space, and people not only reflect but reinforce lives that are more "integrating" or "segmenting" at any given time. In clarifying what we take for granted, this book will leave you thinking in different ways about your life and work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900226581469
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	06/01/1996
Edition description:	1
Pages:	343
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Christena Nippert-Eng is associate professor of sociology and associate chair of the Department of Social Sciences at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is the author of Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries through Everyday Life, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Prologue
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Negotiating Home and Work: From Integration to Segmentation
Ch. 1: Territories of the Self: Recognizing the Home-Work Boundary
Ch. 2: Cognitive Engineering: Bridging Time, Space, and Self
Ch. 3: Structural Constraints and Personal Discretion: Work Stakes Its Claim
Ch. 4: Be It Ever So Humble, There Are Also Surveyors at Home
Ch. 5: Jimmy, Eleanor, and the Logic of Boundary Work
Conclusion: Beyond Home and Work: Boundary Theory
Appendix: Interview Questionnaire for Home and Work
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

How do you draw the line between work duties and home life? Sociologist Nippert-Eng explores this question in her fascinating research, which reveals the many symbolic and practical boundaries humans set up to distinguish these two important roles in life. She presents a theory of "boundary work," exemplified by the use of symbolic separation, transformational activities, and an explanation of the struggle we face as we deal with constraints from the work environment as well as from home that pull and tug at us for all our attention. The author's research is substantial, including extensive interviews with 72 willing participants from a research laboratory. While the question of how to balance all these difficult responsibilities and yet live a meaningful life will appeal to many readers, this is nevertheless a highly specialized dissertation suitable for major university libraries supporting a graduate sociology curriculum. Wait for a more "user-friendly" version to hit the self-help shelves.Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.

Library Journal

An interview project investigating how Americans form boundaries at "work" which are unique from their "home" lives. Though Nippert-Eng (sociology, Illinois Institute of Technology) is interested in the personal aspects of boundary making (the mental constructions and rituals), there are obvious sociological implications which she reviews in her discussions on work environment, the "sacredness" of children, and her explications of boundary theory. The appendix contains the interview questionnaire used in the study. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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