%0 Journal Article %A Lightman, Naomi %A Kevins, Anthony %D 2019 %T Bonus or burden? Care work, inequality, and job satisfaction in eighteen European countries %U https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Bonus_or_burden_Care_work_inequality_and_job_satisfaction_in_eighteen_European_countries/9976268 %2 https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/ndownloader/files/17991632 %K Care work %K Europe %K Gender %K Inequality %K Job satisfaction %K Professionalization %K Public opinion %K Stratification %K Sociology %X While existing research highlights the feminized and devalued nature of care work, the relationship between care work and job satisfaction has not yet been tested cross-nationally. England (2005) outlines two theoretical frameworks that guide our thinking about this potential relationship: the Prisoner of Love framework suggests that, notwithstanding the explicit and implicit costs of care work, the intrinsic benefits of caring provide ‘psychic income’ and lead to greater job satisfaction; while the Commodification of Emotion framework suggests, instead, that care work generates additional stress and/or alienation for the worker, thereby resulting in lower job satisfaction. This article empirically tests this relationship in 18 countries using European Social Survey data and incorporating national-level factors. The results provide support for the Prisoner of Love framework, with variation based on the degree of professionalization. Although we find broad evidence of a care work-job satisfaction bonus, non-professional care workers experience a substantively larger bonus than their paraprofessional and professional counterparts. However, national-level economic inequality is also found to play a role in this relationship, with higher inequality amplifying the care work bonus at all levels of professionalization. %I Loughborough University