The Rhetoric of Accommodation: Considering the Language of Work-Family Discourse

Abstract

The language used to describe work-family issues reflects certain ways of thinking about the interconnectedness and segmentation of work and family. "Accommodate" or "accommodation" is a word that is often used in discussions about policies that apply to work and family. This article uses a cluster method of rhetorical analysis to look at the history of "accommodation" in legal discourse. It concludes that the use of the word "accommodation" in other legal contexts can constrain the ways of envisioning the roles, relationships, and possibilities for work and family in discussions about work-family policies.

Keywords: rhetoric, accommodation, work-family, work-life, work, family, balance