| Summary: | Due to a series of extended lockdowns and ‘stay at home’ measures, along with the closure of schools and quarantine regulations for those in close contact with infected persons, more people have been working from home during the pandemic than ever before.
The issue is currently in the crosshairs of the UK Government, which is currently ‘considering legislation to make working from home the “default” option by giving employees the right to request it’. But although our present predicament is clearly connected to, and partly caused by, the biological facts of a virus and resulting social distancing measures, there are a number of broader sociological factors and trends shaping our understanding and experiences of working from home that demand closer scrutiny.
To what extent is our current experience of working from home a continuation and expansion of already existing practices, or conversely, a qualitatively different arrangement within the history of work? What are the effects of transforming the home into a place of work? And what forms of intervention to resist or influence this transition are possible and necessary?
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