Bourdieu and the psychosocial / Open lecture 2: Will Atkinson

Outline of a theory of ‘work-life balance’: developing field theory to accommodate
critical moments and radical ruptures at the intersection of class, family and work

Will Atkinson, Professor of Sociology, University of Bristol (UK)

As part of a three-day Bourdieu workshop, this lecture presents a new theoretical model of
the ‘family-employment-leisure’ nexus, moving beyond the common idea of ‘work-life
balance’. Drawing on comparative research in the US, Germany, and Sweden, it critiques
existing frameworks, engages with Bourdieu’s sociology, and introduces new concepts to
explain how desires, dispositions, and situations are shaped across multiple social fields.