In collaboration with: Technical University of Chemnitz, Chair of Industrial and Technological Sociology

Until the 1960s, society was characterized by a relatively stable relationship between the family and work, with the two spheres being strictly separate from each other and having clear gender-specific assignments. Increasingly, however, a variety of different transformation processes are appearing in this relationship – processes that could be described as making the boundaries between work and life, and between the private and public spheres, permeable. It is not only the form of family life that has changed; the whole of everyday life has become more demanding and more complex. In parallel with this, drastic changes in economic and working life have taken place – one need only mention the introduction of more flexible working hours and the increasingly subjective importance and intensification of work. Over the course of a lifetime, a fresh balance now has to be constantly established between work and the family.
The project aims to examine this new tension in the relationship between work and the family and to investigate in an empirical way the resulting requirements for ways of linking work and the family. Particular attention is being given to practical ways of organizing the family and working worlds.
Following an initial project phase in which the theoretical and conceptual foundations for the project were prepared, the second, empirical phase of the project started in March 2006. Employees with families working in the retail trade and in the field of film and TV production were interviewed, discussions with experts were conducted, and secondary statistical data were analysed. The empirical inquiries have now been completed.