Naslov
Thinking about the family: conceptualization and operationalization of cognitive and emotional labor

Autori
Račić, Jasna ; Barada, Valerija ; Puzek, Ivan & Čop, Blanka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
In the Frictions: Fragments of Care, Health and Wellbeing in the Balkans / - Zadar : Sveučilište u Zadru, 2023, 48-48

Skup
In the Frictions: Fragments of Care, Health and Wellbeing in the Balkans

Mjesto i datum
Zadar, Hrvatska, 27.04.2023. - 29.04.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
cognitive labor, emotional labor, household, care work, parents, minor children

Sažetak
In most housework and childcare studies, physical activities and tasks are extensively operationalized, measured and analyzed. However, a small number of usually qualitative studies raise the question of who is responsible for overall managing of the household, who plans and monitors tasks and who takes care of material and emotional needs of all of the members of the household. Researchers address these issues under the scope of miscellaneous concepts: household management, cognitive labor, mental labor, emotional labor and/or emotional management. Building on existing findings, we address these invisible and often overlooked components of housework jointly as cognitive and emotional labor in managing the household (in Croatian: kognitivno i emocionalno upravljanje kućanstvom, abb. KEUK) that aims at achieving the well-being of household members. We propose a conceptual framework and a survey-based instrument for measuring cognitive and emotional labor in the household. In conceptualizing KEUK, we take into account its two dimensions: management of resources and time (cognitive labor) and the management of relationships and emotions (emotional labor). We recognize that this form of housework is located both within the household, but also in relation to relatives and the wider community and in relation to other institutions. Also, we focus our interest on the unit of household rather than specific members of the household (e.g. partners, children or elders), taking into account different types of habitation (multigenerational and multilocation households). Finally, with this kind of conceptualization, we explore the possibility of management flowing in different directions and taking several levels of activities’ intensity. Operationalization of KEUK was included in the research conducted as a part of the European Social Fund project Impact of Public Policies on the Quality of Family and Working Life and the Demographics of Croatia - Spaces of Change. A survey of parents of underage children in Croatia (N=3600) was conducted from November 2021 through January 2022. We present key findings from this data, assess its validity and reliability, and conclude with the implications for future housework research.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA