Lifestyle enterprising: the "ambiguity work" of Swedish horse-farmers
Författare
Summary, in English
The article introduces the concept of ambiguity work as a specific form of work-life balancing performed when making a livelihood based on leisure interests and a personal lifestyle. The study focuses on female self-employed horse-farmers in Sweden involved in service work with and through horses. Through an analysis of narratives and practices of this service work, based on ethnographic interviews and observations, boundary negotiations of various social spheres are discernible: Work and life, and the commercial and the personal. The analysis shows that the horse-farmers perform a delicate and ongoing balancing act between family interests, individual leisure and paid work. Drawing on the notion of sociological ambivalence, it is suggested that this balancing act does not strive for demarcations, but rather to stay betwixt-and-between social spheres. It is argued that lifestyle enterprising is enacted and confirmed through ongoing boundary negotiations, or ambiguity work, that sustains a tension between keeping and blurring social boundaries. It is further argued that ambiguity work in this type of lifestyle enterprising both reinforces and questions ideals and norms concerning small business management and professional versus non-professional relationships.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2014-07-11
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
317-333
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Community, Work and Family
Volym
18
Issue
3
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Taylor & Francis
Ämne
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
- Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Nyckelord
- gender
- horse-farm
- boundary negotiations
- sociological ambivalence
- work-life balance
Status
Published
Projekt
- Hästgården - mellan familjeprojekt och livsstilsföretage
- Den kommersiella vänskapens pris - sociala förhandlingar om värde i upplevelseekonomin
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1366-8803