Letters to First Lady Michelle Obama: Problematizing In/Exclusions of Political Economic and Work-Life Policy Constructions

• In Event: Constructing Conceptualizations of Work-Life Balance

Abstract

Through governmental, corporate, and not-for-profit organizations' work-life policies, individuals are constructed in certain ways for policy use and exclusion. This chapter analyzes popular culture, academic, and policy texts on work-life policies and practices to problematize who can use such policies and whether there are possibilities for achieving work-life integration, that is, satisfactory fulfillment of different life realms. Our discussion is couched within political economic macrostructures, discourses, and material realities where debates on work-life issues occur.

Authors

• Patrice Buzzanell, Purdue University

• Rebecca Dohrman, Purdue University

• Suzy D'Enbeau, University of Kansas