UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Work and Life in the Balance: Ways of Working and Living Among Elite French, Norwegian, and American Professionals Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vr6b2n3 Author Schulz, Jeremy Markham Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Work and Life in the Balance: Ways of Working and Living Among Elite French, Norwegian, and American Professionals By Jeremy Markham Schulz A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Neil Fligstein Professor Arlie Hochschild Professor Trond Petersen Professor Mary Blair-Loy Professor Stanley Brandes Spring 2010 Abstract Work and Life in the Balance: Ways of Working and Living Among Elite French, Norwegian, and American Professionals by Jeremy Markham Schulz Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Berkeley Professor Neil Fligstein, Chair The idea that work-shy Western Europeans and work-crazed Americans differ fundamentally in their orientations to working life and private life has gained wide currency on both sides of the Atlantic within the social science community, spawning rafts of studies charting differences in aggregate time use patterns and work value orientations. Taking an experiential perspective on the behaviors and orientations constitutive of working life and private life, my dissertation approaches the question of cross-national and transatlantic difference from a novel standpoint. Drawing on over one hundred and fifty in-depth interviews with comparable elite professionals, the dissertation carries out a three-way case study of the experiential divergences and convergences between the working lives and private lives of comparable French, Norwegian, and American elite professionals working and living in Paris, Oslo, and San Francisco. The dissertation examines the ways these three groups organize and experience their working lives and their private lives by exploring convergences and divergences relating to a number of analytical dimensions. The study contrasts their daily work routines, their temporal zoning practices, their career pathways and aspirations, their romantic partners' occupational profiles, as well as their ways of talking about work, work effort, and leisure. Capitalizing on my unique body of data, the dissertation reveals the forms which these various practices and orientations take in these three distinctive societal environments. The dissertation's findings add a new dimension to the ongoing debates around overwork, extreme work, and work-life strain among managers and professionals. The study's comparative findings reveal important differences in the ways that comparable populations of elite French, Norwegian, and American managers and professionals working in similarly high-stakes, rewarding, and remunerative jobs constitute working life and private life. Relative to their American or French counterparts, elite Norwegian managers and professionals treat their working lives as a less greedy life realm, responding to a social and cultural environment which acts in very specific ways to inhibit the kind of extreme work habits which run rampant in these two other societal contexts. While both the French and American elite managers and professionals engage in extreme working, this way of working assumes somewhat different forms in the two societal contexts. The extreme work of the American managers and professionals is driven by a deep-seated desire 1 to perform well in a competition over money and personal status. By contrast, the extreme work of the French managers and professionals issues from an attachment to an occupational identity defined through membership in a recognized social and cultural elite. This identity is strengthened and reinforced by a surprisingly strong tendency for the male French elite professionals to pair up with occupationally matched women pursuing their own demanding careers. Just as the dissertation provides a rich and. nuanced picture of working life among these three groups of managers and professionals, it illuminates the complex linkages between extreme work among managers and professionals, on the one hand, and facets of societal context, on the other hand. Analyzing these connections from a variety of theoretical perspectives, the dissertation reveals the sources of these differences in stratification cultures, gender cultures, systems of elite education, and patterns of romantic and family life. 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................page 6 Chapter 1 Introduction: Setting the Stage .....................................................................page 11 Chapter 2 Talk of Work: Divergent Cultural Repertoires in French, Norwegian, and American Justifications for Hard Work.................................................page 40 Chapter 3 Zoning the Evening: Constructions of the Work-Life Boundary Among French Norwegian, and American Elite Business Professionals..............................page 85 Chapter 4 Career Convergences: A Set-Theoretic Study of Matched French, Norwegian, and American Male Management Consultants............................................page 121 Chapter 5 Work and Family Alignments and Mismatches: A Set-Theoretic Study of Partner Alignment Among Matched Male Managament Consultants...................................................................................................page 144 Chapter 6 Norwegian Exceptionalism? Counterpressures to Extreme Work in Norway, France, and the United States............................................................................................................page 159 Chapter 7 Conclusions..................................................................................................page 214 Appendix A Venn Diagrams (Crisp-Set Visualizations) for Chapters 4 & 5...................page 238 Appendix B Research Sites: Comparing the French, Norwegian, and American Macrocontexts..............page 255 Appendix C Research Strategy and Methods....................................................................page 280 Appendix D Comparative Approaches to Cross-National Research.................................page 292 Bibliography........................................................................................................................page 298 i Acknowledgments This project would never have gotten off the ground without the inspiration, mentorship, and advice of several generous and incredible scholars who remained committed to the project throughout its ups and downs. First among equals is Neil Fligstein. Over the years he has sustained the project from start to finish through his indefatigable encouragement, unparalleled enthusiasm, sharp mind, unrivaled ability to get to the heart of the matter, and special talent for knowing where to go and how to get there. In this vein I would like to extend my special appreciation to Arlie Hochschild. A terrific advisor, Arlie got me to see the reach and power of the sociological imagination and the way it could illuminate individuals' interior lives. I took away countless gems from our many wonderful brainstorming sessions where she shared her brilliant insights into the ways people act, think, and feel. Special appreciation is also due my advisor and committee member from UCSD, Mary Blair-Loy. Appearing on the scene at the exact moment when I needed her ability to move between the empirical and the theoretical with ease and grace, she helped me to sharpen my arguments. The dissertation has benefited enormously from her thoughtful feedback. Finally, Stanley Brandes in the Department of Anthropology showed me that the anthropological imagination is not wholly incompatible with the sociological imagination. It is because of him and his writing workshop that I have tried to think about social context in a "holistic" way. The research undergirding this project was an arduous, time-consuming, and expensive affair which necessitated the help of many kind and generous souls. Trond Petersen leapt to the rescue when I was still casting about for a research site in northern Europe. He kindly set me up with his vast network of Norwegian friends and colleagues and paved the way for what turned out to be a wonderful series of expeditions to his hometown of Oslo. It is thanks to Trond that I have had such a great fieldwork experience in the wonderful and fascinating country of Norway. In Norway, Geir Høgsnes, Karin Widerberg, and Susan Powers greased the institutional wheels at the University of Oslo and made my stays there productive, enjoyable, and enlightening. My many memorable discussions with Anila Nauni, Øyvind Wiborg, Selma Lyng, Sigtona Halrynjo, and Heidi Nicoliasen opened my American eyes to the peculiarities and wonders of Norway, both as a country and a research site. For helping me through my struggles with the Norwegian language I owe a debt to the excellent language instruction of Amanda Dominguez and the patience and forbearance of my Norwegian friends (particularly Ingjerd Skafle) who allowed me to practice my fledgling Norwegian at the expense of their masterful English. The intellectual scaffolding for this project took shape slowly and gradually