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Yuppie Kvetch? Work-life Conflict and Social Class in Western Europe

Author

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  • Frances McGinnity

    (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI))

  • Emma Calvert

    (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI))

Abstract

Recent debates on time-use suggest that there is an inverse relationship between time poverty and income poverty (Aguiar and Hurst, 2007), with Hammermesh and Lee (2007) suggesting much time poverty is ?yuppie kvetch? or ?complaining?. Gershuny (2005) argues that busyness is the ?badge of honour?: being busy is now a positive, privileged position and it is high status people who work long hours and feel busy. Is this also true of work-life conflict? This paper explores the relationship between work-life tension and social inequality, as measured by social class, drawing on evidence from the European Social Survey (2004). To what extent is work-life conflict a problem of the (comparatively) rich and privileged professional/managerial classes, and is this true across European countries? The countries selected offer a range of institutional and policy configurations to maximise variation. Using regression modelling of an index of subjective work-life conflict, we find that in all the countries under study, work-life conflict is higher among professionals than non-professionals. Part of this is explained by the fact that professionals work longer hours and experience more work pressure than other social classes, though the effect remains even after accounting for these factors. Country variation is modest, despite much variation in policies concerning work-life conflict. We consider other explanations of why professionals report higher work-life conflict and the implications of our findings for debates on social inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Frances McGinnity & Emma Calvert, 2008. "Yuppie Kvetch? Work-life Conflict and Social Class in Western Europe," Papers WP239, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp239
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    File URL: https://www.esri.ie/pubs/WP239.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    2. John MacInnes, 2005. "Work–Life Balance and the Demand for Reduction in Working Hours: Evidence from the British Social Attitudes Survey 2002," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 273-295, June.
    3. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    4. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Jungmin Lee, 2007. "Stressed Out on Four Continents: Time Crunch or Yuppie Kvetch?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 374-383, May.
    5. Gershuny, Jonathan, 2005. "Busyness as the badge of honour for the new superordinate working class," ISER Working Paper Series 2005-09, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Kimberly Fisher & Richard Layte, 2004. "Measuring work-life balance using time diary data," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 1(1), pages 1-13, August.
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    Keywords

    work-life balance; social inequality; work pressure; comparative research; Western Europe.;
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