Time bind

Time bind is a concept introduced by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in 1997, in her book, The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. This concept refers to the blurring distinction between work and home social environments.

Hochschild found in her research that although most working parents, particularly mothers, said "family comes first", few of them considered adjusting their long working hours, even when their workplaces offered flextime, maternity leave, telework, or other "family friendly" policies. She concluded that the roles of home and work had reversed: work had become more attractive, offering a sense of belonging, while home had grown more stressful, becoming a dreaded place with too many demands.