Facebook Instagram Twitter RSS Feed PodBean Back to top on side

Narratives on Working Hours: An Analysis of “Pioneer” Brokering Agencies for Live-in Care Work in Germany

In: Sociológia - Slovak Sociological Review, vol. 53, no. 5
Simone Habel

Details:

Year, pages: 2021, 463 - 482
Language: eng
Keywords:
Live-in care; home-based care; migrant care work; brokering agencies; working conditions; understanding of working hours; legitimation narratives
Article type: Štúdie tematickej sekcie
Document type: journal
About article:
Narratives on Working Hours: An Analysis of “Pioneer” Brokering Agencies for Live-in Care Work in Germany. In the “gray market” for live-in care work in Germany, brokering agencies are playing an increasingly important role in shaping working conditions. Drawing on six expert interviews with “pioneer” brokering agencies, this article centers on these agencies’ narratives on working hours. The analysis reveals that these agencies’ understanding of working hours is contradictory: working hours are either referred to as a fixed, intersubjectively measurable category or as a subjective phenomenon, leaving scope for divergent opinions. These perspectives are evident in the assumption of an (in)separability of working and leisure time, and in the understanding of leisure time as a personal need or a valid demand. In this context, constructing working hours as a subjective category thus functions as a legitimation narrative for extensive working hours. These findings are connected to the contradictory interpellations of live-in care workers, such as “fictive kin” and “manager of the self”, and to the underlying understandings of work. Sociológia 2021, Vol. 53 (No. 5: 463-482)
How to cite:
ISO 690:
Habel, S. 2021. Narratives on Working Hours: An Analysis of “Pioneer” Brokering Agencies for Live-in Care Work in Germany. In Sociológia - Slovak Sociological Review, vol. 53, no.5, pp. 463-482. 0049-1225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/sociologia.2021.53.5.17

APA:
Habel, S. (2021). Narratives on Working Hours: An Analysis of “Pioneer” Brokering Agencies for Live-in Care Work in Germany. Sociológia - Slovak Sociological Review, 53(5), 463-482. 0049-1225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31577/sociologia.2021.53.5.17
About edition:
Publisher: Institute for Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Published: 27. 9. 2021