Soc Polit. 2011;18(2):168-98. doi: 10.1093/sp/jxr007.
This study develops a conceptual framework with a capabilities and agency approach for analyzing work–life balance (WLB) applied in two societies (Hungary and Sweden), which have different working time regimes, levels of precarious employment, and gender equality discourses and norms. Inspired by Amartya Sen, we present a model illustrating how agency freedom for WLB depends on multiple resources at the individual, work organizational, institutional, and normative/societal levels. Using a unique qualitative survey conducted in two cities, Budapest and Stockholm, we analyze how mothers and fathers subjectively experience the tensions between family and work demands, and their possibilities for alternative choices (agency freedom). We find similarities in these tensions involving time pressure and time poverty, cutting across gender and education. Our Hungarian parents, nevertheless, experience greater agency inequalities for WLB, which reflect weaker institutional resources (conversion factors) as well as cultural/societal norms that act as constraints for WLB claims in the workplace and household. Our study reveals that Swedish parents, both men and women, express a strong sense of entitlement to exercise rights to care.
本研究采用能力和能动作用方法，为分析工作与生活平衡（WLB）构建了一个概念框架，并将其应用于两个社会（匈牙利和瑞典）。这两个社会的工作时间制度、不稳定就业程度以及性别平等观念和规范均有所不同。本研究受到阿玛蒂亚·森的启发，提出了一个模型，展示了 WLB 的能动作用自由取决于个人、工作组织、制度和规范/社会层面的多种资源。我们利用在布达佩斯和斯德哥尔摩两个城市进行的一项独特的定性调查，分析了母亲和父亲如何主观地体验家庭和工作需求之间的紧张关系，以及他们进行替代选择（能动作用自由）的可能性。我们发现，这些涉及时间压力和时间贫困的紧张关系在性别和教育方面存在相似之处。然而，我们的匈牙利父母在实现 WLB 的能动作用平等方面面临更大的不平等，这反映出制度资源（转换因素）较弱，以及文化/社会规范在工作场所和家庭中对 WLB 主张构成限制。我们的研究表明，瑞典父母，无论男女，都强烈认为自己有权行使照顾的权利。
