Haven or hell? Telework, flexibility and family in the e-society: a Marxist analysis

Anita Greenhill and Melanie Wilson

European Journal of Information Systems, 2006, vol. 15, issue 4, 379-388

Abstract: The reconfiguration of the home-work boundary that at-home telework entails has significant implications for gender issues and the use of ubiquitous information and communications technologies (ICTs). By presenting a Marx-inspired dialectical analysis of the family and home as both ‘haven and hell’, we develop a critique of proposed advantages for women home workers. Not only do we question the ability of ICTs to deliver the promises made on their behalf – we show how this socio-technical innovation may in fact contribute to compounding the double-burden of work associated with gender roles within the home. Contemporary critical understanding of the e-society should incorporate the influence of at-home teleworking because of its implications for the use of ubiquitous ICTs in the home environment, the shaping of work relations and its impact on gender issues. This increasing use of ICTs outside of the workplace is matched by the growing consensus within the European Union on the desirability of flexible working coupled with family friendly policies. This paper explores some of the rhetoric and research surrounding the proposed benefits of at home ‘telework’ and the likely cost–benefits, from an employee's perspective, in terms of increased freedom, reduced burden and ‘flexibility’.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000632 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tjisxx:v:15:y:2006:i:4:p:379-388

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tjis20

DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000632

Access Statistics for this article

European Journal of Information Systems is currently edited by Par Agerfalk

More articles in European Journal of Information Systems from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().