Enfances, Familles, Générations (May 2018)
Apprendre l’usage du temps dans les familles cadres : Une enquête en immersion
Abstract
Research framework: In families where the parents are senior executives, parental management practices are excellent illustrators of normative managerial rationalities. The application of traversal management reasoning (whether private, public, professional, family or leisure), influences the relationship with the self, with others, and the entire world (Le Testier, 2015). Their articulation of daily time (Kaufman, 1992) and life trajectories (Bessin, 2009) makes it possible to understand the relationship between class, age and gender (Fleuve, 2006) and how temporal standards are continuously shaped (Canguilhem, 1943; De Certeau 1994). Objectives: I observed the manner in which these “managerial temporalities” are formed, interiorized and passed on by the couple in their professional , parental and marital lives; the children, in their socialization, schooling and travels; and the within the entire family itself through daily organization. Methodology: This work takes a qualitative approach that started with immersion. As a baby-sitter, I assumed a triple role: functional (coordinating activities), educational (socializing with the children through a succession of activities) and emotional (temporizing the impacts of these rhythms). This immersion was complemented by private interviews and personalized logbooks. Result: The homes visited are semi-open interfaces that are in a state of flux. I took a transitional place to better understand the focal role of mothers and the educational standards used for the production, diffusion, the interiorization as well as the invisibilisation of their temporal norms. Conclusion: The “methods of construction” used for these temporalities (Elias, 1997) informs us of managerial norms that are applied to our way of being and our intimate co-constructions. Contribution: The immersion that I’m undertaking in temporal territories is key to understanding the core of these processes. Through the means of a reflective look on my iterative practices, this article underlines the familial co-constructions of managerial temporal norms.
