Work-Life Balance and Beyond: Premises and Challenges

The chapter introduces the scientific debate on work-life balance, starting with a short reconstruction of the history of the concept, from the emphasis on conflict between separate spheres to the more recent urges to abandon it, because of its many limitations and biases. Moreover, the authors outline the main thematic axes around which the debate on work-life balance has developed, such as gender, class and generation, but also those that should be explored further, by adopting an intersectional approach in the analysis of the relationship between work and other spheres of life. Finally, the ongoing changes, implications and challenges presented by the Coronavirus pandemic are considered, in order to identify the possible trajectories and perspective that are opening for future research agenda.