Gender, Time, and Reduced Work (SUNY Series in the Sociology of Work and Organizations)

This book compares and analyzes different forms of reduced work: conventional part-time employment, temporary employment, job sharing, and work sharing. Through interviews, workers reveal their experiences with reduced work, particularly the extent to which they control their work schedules, how they use their time off, and whether they feel that reduced work improves or diminishes their quality of life. Negrey challenges the notions that reduced work is homogenous, and that it is uniformly positive (or negative) in its consequences for workers. She concludes that reduced work is sex-segregated in ways similar to full-time work, and, as it currently exists, reinforces unequal gender relations rather than contests them. 1. The Best Of Both Worlds? A Comment On Terminology. A Context For Understanding Reduced Work. Post-industrialism And Reduced Work. Occupational Sex Segregation And Reduced Work. Reduced Work, Personal Autonomy, And Quality Of Life -- 2. Reduced Work In Perspective. Labor Market Theories. Work Hours And Work Schedules. The Gender Division Of Labor In The Household -- 3. How The Study Was Done. Sample Construction And Characteristics. The Part-time Workers. The Temporaries. The Job Sharers. The Work Sharers -- 4. The Part-time Workers. Joining The Part-time Workforce. Irregular Work Schedules. Irregular Work Schedules And Time Off The Job. Regular Work Schedules. Regular Work Schedules And Time Off The Job. Summary And Conclusion -- 5. The Temporaries. Seeking Temporary Employment. Regular Work Schedules. Regular Work Schedules And Time Off The Job. Intermittent Temporary Work. Intermittent Work And Time Off The Job. Summary And Conclusion -- 6. The Job Sharers. Becoming A Job Sharer. Job Sharers' Work Schedules. Job Sharing And Time Off The Job. Balancing Employment And Child Care. Relieving The Double Burden. Time Left Over For Recreation. Making Time For Community Service. Summary And Conclusion -- 7. The Work Sharers. Choosing Unemployment. Work Schedules Left Behind. Work Sharing And Time Off The Job. Household Projects. Interpersonal Relationships. Community Service. Recreation. Summary And Conclusion -- 8. The Promise And Limits Of Reduced Work. Four Types Of Reduced Work Compared. Gender And Reduced Work Reconsidered. Reduced Work And Community. Cynthia Negrey. Based On The Author's Thesis, Michigan State University. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book compares and analyzes different forms of reduced work: conventional part-time employment, temporary employment, job sharing, and work sharing. Through interviews, workers reveal their experiences with reduced work, particularly the extent to which they control their work schedules, how they use their time off, and whether they feel that reduced work improves or diminishes their quality of life.Negrey challenges the notions that reduced work is homogenous, and that it is uniformly positive (or negative) in its consequences for workers. She concludes that reduced work is sex-segregated in ways similar to full-time work, and, as it currently exists, reinforces unequal gender relations rather than contests them.Cynthia Negrey is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Based on an interview survey of 44 women and men carried out in 1986- 1987. Discusses workers' experience, particularly with regard to the extent to which they control their work schedules, how they use their time off, and whether reduced work improves or diminishes their quality of life Gaat in op de invloed van allerlei vormen van arbeidstijdverkorting op genderverhoudingen en de 'quality of time'