“The Best of Both Worlds” and “Cutting My Own Throat”: Contradictory Images of Home-Based Work

This article documents the existence of two contradictory depictions of computer-aided home-based work found in the popular press and the academic literature. Working at home is sometimes said to allow individuals to gain a full and successful integration of their paid and family work. At other times the physical proximity of home and work activities accompanying homework is portrayed as the cause of great anxiety and stress. Through case studies of women and men who do professional work at home in Canada, I explore the ways in which these two contradictory images are in fact simultaneously reflected in individuals' experiences of working at home.

[1]  Carroll Seron,et al.  Negotiating Professionalism , 1995 .

[2]  D. Hall.  Promoting work/family balance: An organization-change approach , 1990 .

[3]  U. Huws,et al.  Telework: Towards the Elusive Office , 1990 .

[4]  Judith Richter,et al.  Telework at Home: The Home and the Organization Perspective , 1993 .

[5]  K L Mosier,et al.  Work in the family and employing organization. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[6]  Magoroh Maruyama,et al.  The third wave: Alvin Toffler, William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York, 1980, $14.95. , 1981 .

[7]  Paul Crawford,et al.  Working from Home , 1994 .

[8]  Oriel Sullivan,et al.  Time Waits for no (Wo)Man: An Investigation of the Gendered Experience of Domestic Time , 1997 .

[9]  J. Hamel,et al.  Case Study Methods , 1993 .

[10]  S. Nollen.  The Work-Family Dilemma: How HR Managers Can Help. , 1989 .

[11]  Gaye Tuchman.  Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality , 1978 .

[12]  Alice Bredin.  The Virtual Office Survival Handbook: What Telecommuters and Entrepreneurs Need to Succeed in Today's Nontraditional Workplace , 1996 .

[13]  M Apgar,et al.  The alternative workplace: changing where and how people work. , 1998, Harvard business review.

[14]  K. Mirchandani,et al.  PROTECTING THE BOUNDARY , 1998 .

[15]  Dimitrina S. Dimitrova,et al.  Computer Networks as Social Networks: Collaborative Work, Telework, and Virtual Community , 1996 .

[16]  M. Patton.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods, 2nd ed. , 1990 .

[17]  B. Shamir,et al.  Work-at-home and the quality of working life: some theoretical considerations , 1985 .

[18]  Margrethe H. Olson,et al.  Working at Home with Computers: Work and Nonwork Issues , 1984 .

[19]  Mary Ann Castronovo Fusco.  Employment relations programs , 1990 .

[20]  M. Patton,et al.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods , 1992 .

[21]  Dail Fields,et al.  Work-Family Conflict , 2002 .

[22]  Simone de Beauvoir.  The Coming of Age , 1970 .

[23]  UNDER ONE ROOF: TOWARD A RECONCILIATION OF HOME-BASED WORK TYPOLOGIES , 1996 .

[24]  E. Poutsma,et al.  EUROPEAN FOUNDATION for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions , 1999 .

[25]  Robert C. Ford,et al.  Is Your Organization Ready for Telecommuting , 1991 .

[26]  Margrethe H. Olson,et al.  Telework: Practical experience and future prospects. , 1987 .

[27]  A. M. th,et al.  The Alternative Workplace: Changing Where and How People Work. , 1998 .

[28]  Jonathan N. Goodrich,et al.  Telecommuting in America , 1990 .

[29]  Lotte Bailyn,et al.  Freeing work from the constraints of location and time : an analysis based on data from the United Kingdom , 1988 .

[30]  J. Kugelmass.  Telecommuting: A Manager's Guide to Flexible Work Arrangements , 1995 .

[31]  Kathleen Barker,et al.  Contingent work : American employment relations in transition , 2000 .

[32]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[33]  Joan Acker,et al.  Gendering Organizational Theory , 1992 .

[34]  Wendell Bell,et al.  The Third Wave. , 1982 .

[35]  Carol S. Wharton.  FINDING TIME FOR THE “SECOND SHIFT”: , 1994 .

[36]  Douglas T. Hall,et al.  Balancing work life and home life: what can organizations do to help?" academy of management executi , 1988 .