Work, Family and Commuting in Europe

The Lives of Euro-commuters

D. Ralph

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137449450
• eBook ISBN: 9781137449467
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Labour Economics
• Index: Social Sciences

Euro-commuters' have emerged as a new group of migrants since the onset of the economic crisis in the EU. These people work in one country but live in another. This book analyses the characteristics of these migrants, their motivations and how commuting influences their personal, family and social lives.

1

Framing Commuter Couples

Abstract: This chapter reviews the current state-of-the-art of academic literature that examines various forms of commuting. In particular, it summarizes scholarly contributions that examine those who commute nationally and internationally, over both short and longer distances. It shows that research into commuting and the subsequent long-distance relationships gives rise to emerging of two main disciplinary traditions: family studies and migration studies. Both these bodies of work are reviewed to consider what insights they offer for this study of Euro-commuters.

Keywords: commuter couples; long-distance relationships; transnational families

Ralph, David. Work, Family and Commuting in Europe: The Lives of Euro-commuters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. DOI: 10.1057/9781137449467.0005.

9781137449467.0005

Introduction

Because of its rising incidence in recent decades, both national and cross-national commuting – and the subsequent long-distance relationships that it gives rise to – has drawn the attention of scholars considerably. This scholarly research into different kinds of commuter arrangements emerges from two main disciplinary perspectives: family studies on the one hand, migration studies on the other. Family scholars generally examine commuter couples who travel within their own country, not necessarily crossing international borders. The macro-sociological reasons behind the formation of this non-nuclear household arrangement are examined, and the resulting ruptures and re-arrangements to family and intimate life are elucidated for both commuting and non-commuting partners, as well as for their children. Migration scholars interested in commuting as a distinct form of mobility generally examine commuting from an international or transnational perspective – that is, they consider those who traverse national borders as part of their commute. What are the driving motives and aspirations of the principal protagonists and what is the future for this type of unconventional migration are the main research questions framing migration scholars’ approach.

In this chapter, I review this scholarly state-of-the-art examining various forms of commuting. I summarize this previous scholarship on commuting, detailing the contribution from the field of family studies, as well as that to emerge from migration studies. While summating these various debates and trends in commuting research, I also underscore the prime insights from this existing research that help frame and analyse the current study of Irish-based Euro-commuter couples – the subject of the subsequent empirical chapters. I consider academic studies that inquire into both national and international commuting. I also examine what has come to be termed the “transnational family” – that is, families that are separated by international borders but whose members maintain familial roles and relations oftentimes across great distances. I consider too research into couples involved in long-distance relationships, paying particular attention to the routines and everyday practices of highly skilled professionals.

The first section gives a brief historical overview of pre-twentieth-century forms of long-distance relationships, outlining the various and myriad antecedents to today’s commuter couples. The second section looks at macro-sociological explanations for the rise in commuter partnerships in contemporary societies. It considers in particular the apparent spread of individualization and the weakening of traditional family forms and bonds in contemporary Western societies, the advent of large-scale female participation in advanced economies in the latter decades of the twentieth century, as well as the shifting nature of globalization and the geographical scaling up of post-industrial economies away from the nation state. The third section looks at the empirical literature on commuting, emerging initially in the 1980s in the United States among family scholars interested in this relatively unprecedented family formation. The fourth section turns to the contribution of migration studies, detailing the insights of scholars examining the familial dynamics of both poor and much more privileged “transnational families”.

Origins of commuter couples and other long-distance relaters

Sociologists and others have described in detail how the character of family life in many Western countries has altered significantly since the tumultuous years of the 1960s (Beck-Gernsheim 2002; Weston 1991). There is now more pluralism, more diversity, more alternative ways of being a family, as the predominance of the traditional nuclear model of a breadwinner-husband/homemaker-wife has been challenged and weakened (Jamieson 1998; Morgan 2003; Roseneil 2005; Weeks et al. 2001). One such non-conventional model includes those involved in distance relationships such as commuter couples, where one partner lives in one location for part of the week or month or year and the other partner lives elsewhere.

Yet social historians of the family are correct to point out that the existence of distance relationships long pre-dates the latter decades of the twentieth century (Coontz 1993; Therborn 2004). Those involved in commuter relationships similar to the ones described in this book – that is, people commuting relatively long distances on a relatively regular basis back to their place of residence – may be a relatively recent family formation. To separate and reunite so regularly – to commute – such couples depend on cheap, reliable transportation and communication links – and such links have only become widespread since the late-1980s, and only in certain wealthy countries (Sahlstein 2004). But historical examples of other types of distance relationships are plentiful. Perhaps, the oldest figures from past eras involved in some form of long-distance living involving routine separation and reunion with family back home are seafarers and fishermen going to sea (Tunstall 1962). Soldiers and mercenaries fighting in faraway wars and military undertakings are another instance of occupations that have always involved periods of absence away before eventually – if you would among the fortunate ones not to be killed – returning home (Holmes 2004). Where someone undertakes seasonal work abroad – this type of recurring, yo-yo-like movement has also existed for centuries (Holmes 2014). Note, in non-Western contexts, distance relationships have long existed too. An example of this is polygamous societies, such as New Guinea, where men may have several wives, spread out over distant communities (Therborn 2004). Here, the man may sojourn at each family for periods at a time before moving to the next family. This is an instance of distance relationships, albeit one unfamiliar and largely disparaged in monogamous Western societies.

The advent of Europe’s industrial revolution precipitated a massive increase in various forms of distant family relationships. With the spread of industrialization, major migratory shifts from rural to urban areas occurred throughout much of Europe – and in some cases, this resulted in people (again, mostly men) being separated from their families in the countryside, to which they would habitually return from the cities (Therborn 2004). Meanwhile, the European colonial projects in Africa, India and elsewhere from the early nineteenth century onwards led further generations of families into forming distance relationships. Colonial agents and administrators from England, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy often left behind wives and children in Europe, returning at intervals to spend time with them (Blunt 2005). And in cases where entire families relocated to the colonies, mothers and children often returned to their home towns and cities in Europe to oversee the duration of their children’s education, or to visit relatives for extended periods. Sociologist Mary Holmes (2004, 183) concludes, “Patterns of industrialization, urbanization, and colonisation continued to influence relationships in these ways throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century.”

During the mid-to-latter decades of the twentieth century, however, incidence of long-distance relationships escalated rapidly. Occupations traditionally involving periodic absences away working – seafaring, fishing, soldiering – continue to exist. But similar routines are now a taken-for-granted career imperative for many others, including long-distance truck drivers (Hollowell 1968); oil-refinery personnel on off-shore rigs (Caligiuri and Lazarova 2005); miners in the mining industry in remote areas (so-called Fly-in, Fly-off or “FiFo” staff) (McKee et al. 2000); travelling sales persons, embassy and diplomatic staff on overseas secondments (Shortland and Cummins 2007); those in the airline industry (Taylor and Tyler 2000); and corporate executives of large multinational organizations (Peiperl and Jonsen 2007).

Macro-sociological explanations for commuting

What occurred in the late-twentieth century, and now in the early years of the twenty-first, to send figures involved in various distance relationships skyrocketing? Sociologists, geographers and others often cite the influence of major macro-societal forces in driving such numbers up (Forsyth and Gramling 1998).

Arguably one of the most dominant of these forces is spreading individualization. Individualization theorists argue that traditional intimate relationships based on marriage and co-residence in one location, under one roof, are loosened or “de-traditionalized”, as social changes in late-modernity means that individuals increasingly base life decisions around notions of self-responsibility, individual freedom, self-control and resourcefulness (Giddens 1992). And what individualization theorists see as this epochal shift away from traditional normative influences like church, state and family towards greater individual self-reflexivity leads to increasing diversity and fluidity in interpersonal relationships (Bauman 2003; Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995). One manifestation of this diversity, this fluidity, might be the increasing numbers of people involved in long-distance relationships like commuting, as individuals in such relationships feel less societal pressure to cohabit full-time with partners than in earlier times. Instead, such couples pursue career and other opportunities in separate locations, then reunite at regular intervals, as best suits each partner. Adhering to the logic of individualization, commuter partners will abide by this arrangement until such time as it becomes burdensome. Then, they may cease commuting and commence full-time cohabitation together, or alternatively, they may simply terminate the relationship altogether. Alongside various other family forms, following an individualization framework, commuter couples are a further instance of the fluid, contingent, individualized forms of living and loving said to be proliferating across contemporary Western societies.

A second macro-societal change that could, in theory, account for the rise in distance relationships is the geographical scaling up of most post-industrial economies (Esping-Anderson 1993). Companies, corporations and business in general are becoming increasingly globalized. Offices, manufacturing plants, sales departments, customer service centres, as well as employees are no longer embedded in a core regional or national environment, but are dispersed across several countries, continents and time zones (Trask 2009). As a result, many workers, but especially those in elite professional positions, are expected to be highly mobile over long distances, even across international borders; their company may want them to meet a specific project need in one location on one month and another on a different month (Suutari 2003). Guillaume and Pochic (2007, 26) call this the new “geographical mobility norm” now facing many employees if they want to pursue certain careers. This scaling-up of local economies to a more global scale and the accompanying demand for a more flexible, footloose workforce – the so-called geographical mobility norm – has therefore led to a rise in the numbers of individuals in distance relationships, as certain employees are posted on more and more relatively short-term assignments in far-flung places (Green 1997). On such assignments, employees rarely uproot their families for these short-term sojourns; instead, they travel over-and-back between their principal residence and their work location on a routine basis (Starr 2009). In other words, they commute.

A third significant societal shift that may have propelled more and more couples into long-distance relationships is the advent of large-scale female participation in the workforce in most Western societies since the 1970s (Leeder 2004). There is now a widespread expectation in most advanced economies for women to be part of the paid labour force alongside their male counterparts (Hardill and Green 2003). As the numbers of women in paid work have increased, so too have the numbers of dual-career households; the model of the male-breadwinner household is on the wane (Sullivan 2006). However, as several researchers have shown, the likelihood that one partner in a dual-career household must – at least once in their career, for some period of time – move beyond their immediate locality for work is high (Green 1997; Holmes 2014; Hardill 2002). As a result, there is a high incidence of long-distance relationships among dual-career households (Becker and Moen 1999). A commuter arrangement may be one such form these long-distance relationships take.

At the same time, it is not simply an increase in female participation in the labour force that is driving an increase in long-distance relationship among dual-career couples. Equally, the increased status of women’s work means that women themselves are not as willing nowadays to compromise their own careers to follow male partners who migrate for work opportunities elsewhere (Lewenhak 1992). Many women, in other words, are more reluctant to become their partners’ “trailing spouses”, instead focussing on their own career opportunities in a location that suits them best (Harvey 1998). The argument here is that this stance taken by more and more women – the refusal to become a trailing spouse – has resulted in an exponential rise in long-distance relationships: the woman in a heterosexual relationship now pursues her career in one place, while her male partner pursues his elsewhere. Again, a commuter arrangement may be one compromise such partners reach to maintain their relationship over distance, while also giving both partners’ career aspirations equal priority.

Empirical trends in commuting

The extension of the individualization process; globalization and the geographical scaling up of post-industrial Western economies; the rise of dual-career households along with increased status placed on women’s work – commuter couples can be seen as an adaptive response to these macro-societal, even epochal shifts. But how, empirically driven scholars ask, do individual commuters and their non-commuting partners experience these shifts at a subjective, everyday level? Put otherwise, what kinds of social practices, lifestyles and relationships develop out of commuter partnerships?

The seminal contribution to the literature – despite being first published three decades ago – remains Naomi Gerstel and Harriet Gross’s (1984) Commuter Marriage: A Study of Work and Family in which the authors interviewed 121 married professionals living in the United States. They argued that commuter marriages represent a “laboratory” for studying the growing cleavage between two interlinked domains: that of work on one hand, that of family on the other. In the early stages of industrial capitalism – following Functionalist and Marxist argument – the intact, conjugal unit of breadwinner husband and homemaker wife sharing a single residence proximate to the husband’s workplace best matched the demands of the economy. However, in the current stage of advanced, post-industrial capitalism, so Gerstel and Gross claim, there is an increasing demand for greater female participation in the labour force as well as for greater geographical mobility from all workers (including mobility away from national labour markets). These twin demands mean that the nuclear breadwinner model of family life has been disrupted. As Gerstel and Gross (1984, 12) put it, “the disjuncture – rather than the ‘fit’ – between the mobility demands of the industrial economy and the single residence home becomes increasingly clear. The very appearance of commuter marriage may be looked at as a response to the mounting structural strains placed on ‘normal’ families, increasing numbers of which are dual-career.”

Examining the appearance, then, of dual-career commuter couples in the United States in the early-1980s, Gerstel and Gross’s (1984) respondents reported on various costs and benefits arising as a result of their unusual living arrangements. Regarding their intimate relationships, many cited improvements on their pre-commuting days. Recapturing a sense of romance upon reuniting, better overall communication, and less arguing over mundane details all accounted for this. At the same time, many confessed to holding unrealistically high expectations of the short time they had together, which often resulted in frustration and disappointment for both partners. Commuters’ social lives also suffered when separated because, as several claimed, other couples often did not know how to react to a single married person in the absence of their spouse. Another pivotal point raised in Commuter Marriage is the life-cycle stage commuter couples find themselves at. The authors differentiated between what they term “younger-adjusting” and “older-established” commuter couples. Younger-adjusting couples, in the main, experienced the commuting arrangement as more burdensome than their elder counterparts, and the principal reason for this was children. Where children were involved, parenting and child care concerns were a major challenge for younger couples; for older-established couples, the likelihood was that their children were grown up and such issues were no longer as pressing. The various challenges and opportunities afforded by commuting as elaborated by Gerstel and Gross (1984) remain hugely relevant to this study. Irish-based Euro-commuter couples, as will be made clear in Chapters 2–4, encounter many of the same issues as Gerstel and Gross’s respondents did some 30 years ago.

The path-breaking findings of Gerstel and Gross (1984) into commuter marriages have been corroborated by subsequent studies from the United States in the late-1980s, 1990s, and early-2000s. At the same time, these more recent studies of American commuter couples have also broken fresh ground in advancing understandings of these unorthodox partnerships. In terms of enrichments associated with the arrangement, the increased sense of autonomy both commuting and non-commuting partners derive from living in separate residences has been outlined in greater detail (Rhodes 2002). So too have the ways commuter couples – in contrast to many single-residence couples – often manage to successfully compartmentalize work and family life and not allow a spill-over from one domain to the other (Bunker et al. 1992). Mean...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• 1  Framing Commuter Couples
• 2  Euro-commuting Motives, Decision-Making, and Gender
• 3  Weekdays
• 4  Weekends
• 5  Conclusion and Future Directions
• Epilogue
• References
• Index