The Work, Family, and Person Spheres in an Integrated System of Individuals’ Activity-Time Allocation

• In Event: Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 12. Families and Inequality

Abstract

The study explores how individuals’ daily activity-time allocation reflects the interdependence among the work, family, and person spheres, emphasizing the systemic nature of social constraints and competing role demands. By conceptualizing daily life as an integrated system of the work, family, and person spheres, the analysis directly examines their interrelations through individuals’ engagement in work, physical housework, and self-development activities. Using the American Time Survey 2014–2019 and a simultaneous equation modeling approach, the study finds that work and family spheres mutually constrain one another in asymmetric ways. Work responsibilities broadly compress individuals’ physical housework engagement, while increased demands in physical housework significantly limit individuals’ availability for paid work. Both spheres further constrain individuals’ opportunities for personal development, with family labor posing more immediate and disruptive effects. These findings contribute to sociological understandings of time poverty and work-family conflict, and underscore the need for institutional support for not only balanced work-family lives but also space for personal growth, promoting greater social equity and fulfilling life courses of individuals.

Author

• Xingyun Wu, The University of Hong Kong