Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries through Everyday LifeUniversity of Chicago Press, Jul 22, 2008 - 343 pages 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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Recognizing the HomeWork Boundary | 34 |
Bridging Time Space and Self | 105 |
Work Stakes Its Claim | 152 |
4 Be It Ever So Humble There Arer Also Surveyors at Home | 194 |
5 Jimmy Eleanor and the Logic of Boundary Work | 229 |
Boundary Theory | 277 |
Appendix Interview Questionnaire for Home and Work | 293 |
| 307 | |
| 313 | |
Other editions - View all
Home and Work: Negotiating Boundaries through Everyday Life Christena E. Nippert-Eng No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
activities and/or artifacts associated behavior break caffeine calendar child clothes colleagues commute conceptual constraints continuum conversations course coworkers credit card cross-realm cultural demands desk discretion distinct domestic drink Eleanor Emile Durkheim encourage Escher Eviatar Zerubavel experience feel friends Gennep groups home-related home-work boundary important instance integrating Jimmy Jimmy's keep kinds Lab machinists Lab members Laboratory less liminal lunch mental morning Murray Davis occupational one's permeability personal boundary phone calls physical practices present primary parent purses realm realm-specific reflect relationship result rience role Rolodex routines sacred schedule scientists segmenting segmentist semiotic sense share simply social space specific spouses symbolic talk tasks telecommuting temporal territories things tion transformation transitions tremely trip tween vacation wage wage labor wall calendar wear weekend wife women work-related workday workers workplace workspace
Popular passages
Page xii - This is because placing lines here or there has definite implications for how we treat each other and the world around us. Depending on which category she or he belongs to, someone will or will not receive medical insurance coverage; will or will not be taken...
Page xi - I address in this book, have one thing in common. They are dimensions through which each of us draws the line between home and work. Often practical yet eminently symbolic, publicly visible yet intimately revealing, these are the kinds of things with which each of us places a mental, physical, and behavioral boundary between these two realms.