Based on an in-depth
study with 56 informants
(25 women and 31 men), across the ICT (Information and Communication
Technology), creative and academic sectors in one city/regional hub in Ireland,
this article investigates the so-called revolution in work/life practices
associated with the post-Fordist labour processes of the Knowledge Economy from
the perspectives of workers themselves. Recent theorisations of post-Fordist work
patterns emphasise a rearranging of work and life place boundaries; a reconfiguring of work and life time boundaries; and a dissolving of
the gendered boundaries of work and life
(production and social reproduction)(Adkins and Dever 2014; Morini and Fumagalli
2010; Gill and Pratt 2008; Weeks 2007; Hardt and Negri 2004). Our findings suggest that, instead of dissolving boundaries, workers
constantly struggle to draw boundaries between what counts as work and as life,
and that this varies primarily in relation to gender and stage in a gendered
life trajectory. Work
extensification is compensated for via a perceived freedom to shape one’s own
life, which is articulated in terms of individualised boundary-drawing. While younger men embraced ‘always on’ work, they also
articulated anxieties about how these work habits might interfere with family
aspirations. This was also true for younger women who also struggled to make
time for life in the present. For mothers, boundary drawing was articulated as
a necessity but was framed more in terms of personal choice by fathers.
Although all participants distinguished between paid work and life as distinct
sites of value, boundaries were individually drawn and resist any easy mapping
of masculinity and femininity onto the domains of work and life. Instead, we
argue that it is the process of
boundary drawing that reveals gendered patterns. The personalised struggles of
these relatively privileged middle-class workers centre on improving the
quality of their lives, but raise important questions about the political
possibilities within and beyond the world of post-Fordist labour.