Work life balance in a capability perspective: an Italian case study on flexible couples

The article discusses the practical basis of judgements about social justice, focusing on the quality of work-life balance in contemporary labour markets. After describing the main European and Italian work-life reconciliation policies, the article presents the results of qualitative research on young adult \u2018flexible\u2019 couples in Italy. Taking Amartya Sen\u2019s \u2018capability approach\u2019 as the starting point, it analyses the ways in which external flexibility affects capabilities concerning the freedom to choose the balance between family, job and overall working life. The article concludes with some reflections on social justice in a resources-capabilities perspective, evaluating the effect of Italian work-life balance policies on the lives of flexible employees and providing some proposals for the effective enhancement of individual capabilities in this regard