Work schedules as sequences: using optimal matching analysis to study the way dual-earner couples balance work and family life in France

Laurent Lesnard, Laboratoire de Sociologie Quantitative (INSEE-CREST), Paris

The example of dual-earners work schedules is used to illustrate how social theory and method can be integrated. The theoretical foundations of the time-budget approach are brought to light and are shown to be incompatible for the analysis of the scheduling of work. Optimal matching analysis is then introduced and adapted to suit the theoretical
requirements of the analysis. The typology obtained is thus used to introduce the concept of temporal segregation and to show how the social position of the French couples dictates to a large extent the way work and family can be balanced.

Slides

Profiles of time-use of dependent employees in family households. Research Context, Concepts and Methodical Aspects

Frank Bauer, ISO Cologne, Institute for the research on equal opportunities

Results will be presented based on direct query methods using two different questionnaires on the distribution of family work and dependent labour amongst adult family members in West and East Germany. The talk will discuss way of avoiding overlaps between housework and childcare and will include a short comparison of cornerstones from research utilizing diary methods.

Time use surveys and the changing organisation of everyday life in the UK, 1975-2000
Wendy Olsen, Alan Warde and Dale Southerton, University of Manchester

Slides