Learning to inhabit the liquid liminal world of work: An auto-ethnographic visual study of work-life boundary transitions

Abstract

This article explores a conceptually modified notion of liminality in order to make better sense of contemporary ‘flexible’ working life. Previous conceptualizations of liminality rely on the assumed existence of socially sustained boundaries and the possibility of boundary spanning. Under conditions of liquid modernity, however, boundaries or thresholds have been destabilized to the point of collapse. Nonetheless, individuals still feel the need to establish and maintain intersubjective boundaries to preserve their own sense of well-being. To understand the new predicament faced by employees, we reconceptualise liminality for liquid times – through the notion of liquid liminality – and, simultaneously, problematize dominant conceptions of work-life balance. The implications that liquid liminality carries for the notion of flexible knowledge work are discussed. Our auto-ethnographic visual study of an academic returning from maternity leave uses a socio-material lens to exemplify the struggles of the contemporary flexible knowledge worker. It also demonstrates how the constant transition between workplace and home life is freighted with anxiety and exhaustion. We also outline opportunities for establishing new learning habits that follow from our theoretical framing and empirical analysis.

Enjoying the Betwixt and Between: Liminoid identity construction on Twitter

“…In contrast, our case suggests that while individuals constructing liminoid identities still have to be mindful of their audience, their ability centres on understanding the limits of what is acceptable or not and on balancing their relative freedom with the existing constraints rather than adjusting constantly. Furthermore, while prior work has abundantly documented how in-between experiences impact individual and organizational learning (Söderlund & Borg, 2018; Tempest & Starkey, 2004), much less has been said about how individuals could learn to deal with such situations (Borg & Söderlund, 2015; Izak et al, 2022). We fill this gap by showing that professionals develop their liminoid competence in two main ways.…”

“…We argue that re-introducing this analytical distinction, as well as examining the underpinnings of the liminoid identity construction process, can greatly contribute to research on liminality. Experiences of in-betweenness are characteristics of ‘the modern condition’ (Czarniawska & Mazza, 2003, p. 270; Izak, Shortt, & Case, 2022) and are increasingly important both in the ‘real world’ (e.g. new, more fluid, forms of work organization) and online (e.g.…”

Agentic interplay between hybridity and liminality in contemporary boundary work

“…Changes in work and life domains have created new conditions in which individuals manage boundaries that are increasingly blurred, particularly in relation to the workplace (Halford, 2005). This has been accompanied by a rise in less stable and/or more flexible working practices (Izak et al, 2023). One effect of this is that the physical and temporal boundaries around work are in many instances no longer enforced by organisations.…”

“…Šimůnková (2019, p. 40) has recently argued that hybridity is thus a ‘universal contemporary human condition’. Liminality is similar in that it emerges from the erosion of boundaries, but is conceptually very different to hybridity; it is said to lead to an ‘in‐between’ space whose primary characteristics are those of ambiguity and flexibility and that is often transitional (Izak et al, 2023; Orlikowski & Scott, 2021; Stein et al, 2015). Rather than being in two domains simultaneously, we are suspended between.…”

Liminality, COVID‐19 and the long crisis of young adults' employment

“…This conceptualisation of contemporary employment for young people as long‐term liminality serves to counterbalance views that adjudicate this state of liminality intrinsically to the COVID‐19 crisis. The crisis has brought ideas, metaphors and conceptualisations of life being disrupted (Walsh et al, 2021); of youth being demoralised about their future (Fronek & Briggs, 2021); and work being enveloped by uncertainty and ambiguity—including the reconfiguration to working from home (Izak et al, 2022). While there is no dispute that the COVID‐19 crisis disrupted daily routines and employment for many young people, as well as introducing new social, economic and health risks, some researchers have already argued that the precarisation of youth employment and the economic disadvantaging of young people can be traced to several decades ago (Bessant et al, 2017; O'Keeffe et al, 2022).…”