| Abstract: | In the German sociology of work and industrial relations, there is an ongoing discussion on the de-limitation of work. It is assumed that the de-standardization and growing flexibilization of work may result in a dissolution of the boundaries between work and private live, whereas a separation of both spheres was characteristic of the Fordist period. Up to now, there has not been much empirical research on these issues. To get a broader perspective on the changes of work in different occupational fields, the paper compares results from a study on mobile care services with the findings of a research project on freelancers in the New Media and the cultural industries. The authors ask whether the assumed de-limitation of work really is a general trend. Are there possibly countervailing tendencies in some fields? Do workers just cope with the changes of work or do they develop their own, active strategies to re-define the boundaries of work and to find a new work-life balance? How are opportunities and risks spread among different groups of workers? What can be learned from this perspective for the debate on a delimitation of work? |
