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.

中文翻译：

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奖金还是负担？十八个欧洲国家的护理工作、不平等和工作满意度

虽然现有的研究强调了护理工作的女性化和贬值的本质，但护理工作与工作满意度之间的关系尚未在全国范围内进行测试。England (2005) 概述了指导我们思考这种潜在关系的两个理论框架：爱的囚徒框架表明，尽管护理工作有显性和隐性成本，但护理的内在好处提供了“心理收入”并导致更好的工作满意; 而情绪商品化框架表明，相反，护理工作会给工人带来额外的压力和/或疏离感，从而导致工作满意度降低。本文使用欧洲社会调查数据并结合国家层面的因素，对 18 个国家的这种关系进行了实证检验。结果为爱的囚徒框架提供了支持，并根据专业化程度而变化。尽管我们发现了护理工作-工作满意度奖金的广泛证据，但非专业护理工作者获得的奖金比他们的准专业和专业同行要高得多。然而，国家层面的经济不平等也被发现在这种关系中发挥了作用，更高的不平等会放大所有专业化水平的护理工作奖金。