Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Digital Nomad Lifestyle: (Remote) Work/Leisure Balance, Privilege, and Constructed Community

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper overviews key concepts about the digital nomad lifestyle, which is defined as the ability for individuals to work remotely from their laptop and use their freedom from an office to travel the world. This concept has found a lifestyle movement that sells itself via personal blogs, Instagram feeds, in-person conferences, news features, and numerous e-books. Based on interviews with thirty-eight self-described nomads, this paper overviews the digital nomad lifestyle around the themes of privilege, inequality, leisure, work, and community. Stebbins’ (International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 1, 43–53, 2018) concept of serious leisure provides one theoretical perspective, in addition to other sociological theories of leisure, work, and community.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Alexander, M. J. (2005). Pedagogies of crossing: Mediations on feminism, sexual politics, memory, and the sacred. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. A., & Vinnicombe, S. (2015). Senior women, work-life balance and the decision to quit: A generational perspective. In A. M. Broadbridge & S. L. Fielden (Eds.), Handbook of gendered careers in management: Getting in, getting on, getting out (pp. 445–459). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aydogdu, F. (2016). Frame of new nomad. http://neonomadproject.com/nomadology-read.html. Accessed 28 Sept 2017.

  • Bandyopadhyay, R., & Patil, V. (2017). The white woman’s burden’—the racialized, gendered politics of volunteer tourism. An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment, 19(4), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackshaw, T. (2018). The two rival concepts of devotional leisure: towards an understanding of twenty-first century human creativity and the possibility of freedom. Int J Sociol Leis, 1, 75–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. A., Duncan, T., & Thulemark, M. (2013). Lifestyle mobilities: the crossroads of travel, leisure and migration. Mobilities, 10(1), 155–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, S. A., Prayag, G., & Moital, M. (2014). Consumer behaviour in tourism: concepts, influences and opportunities. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Stefano, V. (2016). The rise of the just-in-time workforce: On-demand work, crowdwork and labor protection in the “gig-economy”. In ILO conditions of work and employment series, Working Paper No. 71 (pp. 1–51). Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2013). Fortunes of feminism: From state-managed capitalism to neoliberal crisis. New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freelancers Union. (2016). Freelancing in America 2016. https://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf. Accessed 28 Sept 2017.

  • Gandini, A. (2015). The rise of coworking spaces: a literature review. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 15(1), 193–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandini, A. (2016a). The reputation economy: Understanding knowledge work in digital society. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gandini, A. (2016b). Digital work: Self-branding and social capital in the freelance knowledge economy. Marketing Theory, 16(1), 123–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gandini, A., Pais, I., & Beraldo, D. (2016). Reputation and trust on online labor markets:the reputation economy of Elance. Work Organization, Labor and Globalization, 10(1), 27–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, L. E., Spreitzer, G. M., & Bacevice, P. A. (2017). Co-constructing a sense of community at work: the emergence of community in coworking spaces. Organization Studies, 38(6), 821–842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haskel, J. & Westlake, S. (2017). Capitalism without capital: the rise of the intangible economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  • Kaplan, C. (1996). Questions of travel: Postmodern discourse of displacement. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Luce, E. (2017). The retreat of Western liberalism. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makimoto, T., & Manners, D. (1997). Digital nomad. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, A. (2016). The digital nomad: Buzzword or research category? Transnational Social Review: A Social Work Journal, 6(3), 344–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, M. (2012). Finding a home for the ‘digital nomad’: New forms of identity and work in relation to mobile media and public space. http://www.michelleobrien.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/OBRIEN_Home_digital_nomad.pdf. Accessed 12 July 2018.

  • Putra, G. B. & Agirachman, F.A. (2016). Urban coworking space: Creative tourism in digital nomads perspective. 4–5 August. Arte-Polis 6 International Conference. Bandung, Indonesia, PGN. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316472768_Urban_Coworking_Space_Creative_Tourism_in_Digital_Nomads_Perspective. Accessed 17 Sept 2017.

  • Reichenberger, I. (2017). Digital nomads: a quest for holistic freedom in work and leisure. Annals of Leisure Research, 21(3), 364–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2017.1358098.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, G. (2015). The new global nomads: youth travel in a globalizing world. Tourism Recreation Research, 40(3), 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015.1075724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schor, J. B., & Attwood-Charles, W. (2017). The “sharing” economy: labor, inequality, and social connection on for-profit platforms. Sociology Compass, 11(8), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stavrou-Costea, E., Parry, E., & Anderson, D. (2015). Nonstandard work arrangements and configurations of firm and societal systems. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(19), 2412–2433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stebbins, R. A. (2001). Serious leisure. Society, (May/June), 53–57.

  • Stebbins, R. A. (2007). Serious leisure: A perspective for our time. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stebbins, R. A. (2018). The sociology of leisure: an estranged child of mainstream sociology. International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure, 1, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-017-0003-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, B. Y. (2018). Digital nomads: Employment in the online gig economy. Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation, 2018(1). https://doi.org/10.12893/gjcpi.2018.1.11.

  • Thompson, B. Y. (2019). ‘I get my lovin’ on the run’: Digital nomads, constant travel, and nurturing romantic relationships. In A. Gorman-Murray & C. J. Nash (Eds.), The geographies of digital sexualities Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinnicombe, S., & Anderson, D. (2017). Expanding the notion of dialogic trading zones for impactful research: the case of women on boards research. British Journal of Management, 28(1), 64–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vinnicombe, S., Moore, L. L., & Anderson, D. (2013). Women's leadership programmes are still important. In S. Vinnicombe, R. J. Burke, S. Blake-Beard, & L. L. Moore (Eds.), Handbook of research on promoting women's careers (pp. 406–419). Northampton: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Siena College, Loudonville, NY, USA

    Beverly Yuen Thompson

Authors
  1. Beverly Yuen Thompson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beverly Yuen Thompson.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Thompson, B.Y. The Digital Nomad Lifestyle: (Remote) Work/Leisure Balance, Privilege, and Constructed Community. Int J Sociol Leis 2, 27–42 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00030-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41978-018-00030-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation