![]() |
![]() |
Your cart is empty |
||
Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Labour economics > General
Most existing theoretical approaches to industrial relations and human resources management (IR/HRM) build their analyses and policy prescriptions on one of two foundational assumptions. They assume either that conflict between workers and employers is the natural and inevitable state of affairs; or that under normal circumstances, cooperation is what employers can and should expect from workers. By contrast, A New Theory of Industrial Relations: People, Markets and Organizations after Neoliberalism proposes a theoretical framework for IR/HRM that treats the existence of conflict or cooperation at work as an outcome that needs to be explained rather than an initial presupposition. By identifying the social and organizational roots of reasoned, positively chosen cooperation at work, this framework shows what is needed to construct a genuinely consensual form of capitalism. In broader terms, the book offers a critical theory of the governance of work under capitalism. 'The governance of work' refers to the structures of incentives and sanctions, authority, accountability and direct and representative participation within and beyond the workplace by which decisions about the content, conditions and remuneration of work are made, applied, challenged and revised. The most basic proposition made in the book is that work will be consensual-and, hence, that employees will actively and willingly cooperate with the implementation of organizational plans and strategies-when the governance of work is substantively legitimate. Although stable configurations of economic and organizational structures are possible in the context of a bare procedural legitimacy, it is only where work relationships are recognized as right and just that positive forms of cooperation will occur. The analytic purpose of the theory is to specify the conditions under which substantive legitimacy will arise. Drawing in particular on the work of Alan Fox, Robert Cox and Jurgen H
Originally published in 1978 Urbanization and Labour Markets is a useful companion for those studying in geography, economics or development studies. The book provides a simple guide to the subject of labour in cities in underdeveloped countries. It also set out the major controversies relating to urban labour markets in developing countries and focuses in detail to work which goes on outside large-scale firms. Migration and population growth is considered in some detail and proposals for different ways of seeing the 'informal' sector are discussed. This book will be of use to undergraduates in the areas of geography, economics and development studies.
This is a book on how and why workers come together. Almost coincident with its inception, worker organisation is a central and enduring element of capitalism. In the 19th and 20th centuries' mobilisation by workers played a substantial role in reshaping critical elements of these societies in Europe, North America, Australasia and elsewhere including the introduction of minimum labour standards (living wage rates, maximum hours etc), workplace safety and compensation laws and the rise of welfare state more generally. Notwithstanding setbacks in recent decades, worker organisation represents a pivotal countervailing force to moderate the excesses of capitalism and is likely to become even more influential as the social consequences of rising global inequality become more manifest. Indeed, instability and periodic shifts in the respective influence of capital and labour are endemic to capitalism. As formal institutions have declined in some countries or unions outlawed and severely repressed in others, there has been growing recognition of informal strike activity by workers and wider alliances between unions and community organisations in others. While such developments are seen as new they aren't. Indeed, understanding of worker organisation is often ahistorical and even those understandings informed by historical research are, this book will argue, in need of revision. This book provides a new perspective on and new insights into how and why workers organise, and what shapes this organisation. The Origins of Worker Mobilisation will be key reading for scholars, academics and policy makers the fields of industrial relations, HRM, labour economics, labour history and related disciplines.
This open access Regional Reader proposes new ways of theorizing migration in Southern Africa by arguing that traditional western forms of theorizing do not adequately fit the South-South migration context. It explores the existing definitions of a 'migrant' with a view to conceptualise a definition which will speak to the complexities, envisioning a more inclusive Southern African region. The book investigates the various levels of migration moving from the local (rural to urban and urban to rural) to cross border migration; middle-class versus working-class migrant household livelihoods; livelihoods procurement versus wage earning; social capital (networks) and how they make meaning of their circumstances in a 'foreign' space. It also acknowledges the intertwined issues of gender and class as important in analyzing migration processes and the chapters feature both in varying dimensions. As such, the book provides a great resource for students, academics and policy makers.
The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biography of David Dubinsky (1892-1982), one of the most controversial and influential labor leaders in 20th-century America. A "character" in the truest sense of the word, Dubinsky was both revered and reviled, but never dull, conformist, or bound by convention. A Jewish labor radical, Dubinsky fled czarist Poland in 1910 and began his career as a garment worker and union agitator in New York City. He quickly rose through the ranks of the International Ladies' Garment Workers'Union (ILGWU) and became its president in 1932. Dubinsky led the ILGWU for thirty-four years, where he championed "social unionism," which offered workers benefits ranging from health care to housing. Moving beyond the realm of the ILGWU, Dubinsky also played a leading role in the American Federation of Labor (AFL), particularly during World War II. A staunch anti-communist, Dubinsky worked tirelessly to rid the American labor movement of communists and fellow-travelers. Robert D. Parmet also chronicles Dubinsky's influential role in local, national, and international politics. An extraordinary personality whose life and times present a fascinating lens into the American labor movement, Dubinsky leaps off the pages of this meticulously researched and vividly detailed biography.
The 19th century witnessed an explosion of writing about unproductivity, with the exploits of various idlers, loafers, and "gentlemen of refinement" capturing the imagination o fa country that was deeply ambivalent about its work ethic. Idle Threats documents this American obsession with unproductivity and its potentials, while offering an explanation of the profound significance of idle practices for literary and cultural production. While this fascination with unproductivity memorably defined literary characters from Rip Van Winkle to Bartleby to George Hurstwood, it also reverberated deeply through the entire culture, both as a seductive ideal and as a potentially corrosive threat to upright, industrious American men. Drawing on an impressive array of archival material and multifaceted literary and cultural sources, Idle Threats connects the question of unproductivity to other discourses concerning manhood, the value of art, the allure of the frontier, the usefulness of knowledge, the meaning of individuality, and the experience of time, space, and history. Andrew Lyndon Knighton offers a new way of thinking about the largely unacknowledged "productivity of the unproductive," revealing the incalculable and sometimes surprising ways in which American modernity transformed the relationship between subjects and that which is most intimate to them: their own activity.
As life spans expanded dramatically in the United States after 1900, and employers increasingly demanded the speed and stamina of youth in the workplace, men struggled to sustain identities as workers, breadwinners, and patriarchs-the core ideals of twentieth-century masculinity. Longer life threatened manhood as men confronted age discrimination at work, mandatory retirement, and fixed incomes as recipients of Social Security and workplace pensions. They struggled to somehow sustain manliness in retirement, a new phase of life supposedly defined by the absence of labor. Ironically, retiring men pursued ways to stay "productive": retirees created new daily routines of golf and shuffleboard games, tinkered with tools in garages, attended social club meetings, armed themselves for hunting and fishing excursions, and threw themselves into yard work. Others looked for new jobs or business ventures. Only unending activity could help to ensure that the "golden years" would be good years for older men of the twentieth century.
The attempt of the Grameen Bank to alleviate poverty and enhance the skills and productivity of its rural women clients provides the fascinating backdrop to this important study of micro-credit institutions. Tazul Islam examines the real extent to which the Grameen Bank's credit-alone policy has been successful in securing the Bank's financial sustainability; its practical role in alleviating poverty and its actual impact on the productivity of its clients. This book concludes by considering alternative policy options that hold out the possibility of increased poverty alleviation.
This work examines variations among nations in the wide array of initiatives labour unions and labour movements are taking to strengthen themselves and recruit new members. Moving beyond previous research on the factors leading to union decline, the international group of scholars who have contributed to this volume present a research agenda on the many initiatives unions are taking - and the different social, economic, and political challenges they face in several world regions, as labour movements endeavor to revitalize themselves. These revitalizing initiatives include changing labor leadership and membership organizing strategies; "social movement unionism"; broadening the range of services provided to union members; and pursuing political and legal reform that achieves freedom of association. The contemporary cases of labour revitalization in this volume have occurred in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. The research agenda presented here rests on the conceptualization of labour revitalization as "socially embedded action," or strategic action taken by labor unions to strengthen themselves by redefining their relationships with workers, employers and states. Each of the three parts of "Labor Revitalization" addresses labour's changing relationships with workers, employers, and states, respectively.
Despite the dramatic expansion of consumer culture from the beginning of the eighteenth century onwards and the developments in retailing, advertising and credit relationships in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there were a significant number of working families in Britain who were not fully free to consume as they chose. These employees were paid in truck, or in goods rather than currency. This book will explore and analyse the changing ways that truck and workplace deductions were experienced by different groups in British society, arguing that it was far more common than has previously been acknowledged. This analysis brings to light issues of class and gender; the discourse of free trade, popular politics and protest; the development of the trade union movement; and the use of the legal system as an instrument for bringing about social and legal change.
Points the way to widened worker participation, greater employment security, and improved competitiveness for workers and employers alike. "William Batt, U.S. Department of Labor"
This essential research review discusses the most important articles on executive compensation published in the twenty-first century. Beginning with an overview of executive compensation, this comprehensive review includes analyses of the growth and magnitude of executive compensation, its relationship with corporate governance, pay and performance, managing assets, and managing liabilities.
Children in poor countries are subjected to exploitation characterized by low wages and long hours of work, as well as by unclean, unhygienic and unsafe working and living conditions, and, more importantly, by deprivation from education, all of which hampers their physical and mental development. Child labour is a complex issue, and clearly it has no simple solution. This book sheds some understanding of its root causes. The book attempts to delve into many of the important theoretical aspects of child labour and suggests policies that could indeed be useful in dealing with the problem under diverse situations using alternative multisector general equilibrium models.
The economic crisis has revealed the dark side of deregulation in the labour market: rising unemployment, limited access to social security and, due to low wages, no savings to count upon in bad times. This book casts light on the empirical relationship between labour market deregulation through non-standard contracts and the three main dimensions of worker security: employment, income and social security. Focusing on individual work histories, it looks at how labour market dynamics interact with the social protection system in bringing about inequality and insecurity. In this context Italy is put forward as the epitome of flexibility through non-standard work and compared with three similar countries: Germany, Spain and Japan. Results show that when flexibility is carried out as a mere cost-reduction device and social security only relies on insurance principles, deregulation leads to insecurity. 'The political economy of work security and flexibility' is essential reading for academics, students, practitioners and policy makers interested in the outcomes of labour market developments in advanced economies over the past twenty years.
European trade unions are among the most influential and powerful institutions within Western economies, in many cases cooperating with the government and employers' associations in socio-economic decision-making processes. Consequently they also play an important role in the formulation of policies relating to immigration and the migrant workers, who are arriving and becoming part of the workforce the unions are representing and protecting against employers and other authorities. However, trade unions have not always fulfilled their role as the most obvious organization to defend the interests of foreign workers to the extent they could be expected. The reasons for this are complex and due to conflicts of interests that arise from their intermediary position between employers, government authorities, and indigenous workers. This volume offers a rich analysis of the situation in seven major European countries but also a comparison of the data found and an attempt to account for the differences established. It ends with some conclusions on the prospects of trade unions within the European Union, and on the lessons to be learned from the present analysis.
The Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics is recognized as an authoritative resource on the U.S. labor force. It continues and enhances the Bureau of Labor Statistics's (BLS) discontinued publication, Labor Statistics. It allows the user to understand recent developments as well as to compare today's economy with past history. This edition includes new tables on occupational safety and health and income in the United States. The Handbook is a comprehensive reference providing an abundance of data on a variety of topics including: *Employment and unemployment; *Earnings; *Prices; *Productivity; *Consumer expenditures; *Occupational safety and health; *Union membership; *Working poor *And much more! Features of the publication In addition to over 215 tables that present practical data, the Handbook provides: *Introductory material for each chapter that contains highlights of salient data and figures that call attention to noteworthy trends in the data *Notes and definitions, which contain concise descriptions of the data sources, concepts, definitions, and methodology from which the data are derived *References to more comprehensive reports which provide additional data and more extensive descriptions of estimation methods, sampling, and reliability measures
This volume provides a comprehensive and detailed socio-economic overview of agrarian distress in India which has manifested in the suicides of farmers and agricultural labourers. Using empirical research and field data from rural India, especially Punjab, this book examines the underlying causes of farmer suicide and steps which can mitigate the crisis. Covering nearly 1,400 rural households, the research in this volume identifies the various dimensions of the deepening crisis in agriculture and farming. It categorises the factors of the problem across different regions and estimates its extent and magnitude. In this updated edition the authors focus on instances of political mobilization and collective movements by farmers struggling to bring the issue of agrarian distress to attention. The book also discusses the implementation of state-waivered loans and compensations and their effect on the farming community. Topical, comprehensive and rich in data, this book will be valuable to scholars and researchers of political economy, agricultural economics, South Asian politics, political sociology and public policy.
This collection explores key themes in the contemporary critique of political economy, in honour of the work and practice of Silvia Federici and George Caffentzis - two of the most significant contemporary theorists of capitalism and anti-capitalism, whose contributions span half a century of struggle, crisis and debate. Drawing together a collection of essays that assess Federici and Caffentzis's contributions, offering critical and comradely reflections and commentary that build on their scholarship, this volume acts as a guide to their work, while also taking us beyond it. The book is organised around five key themes: revolutionary histories, reproduction, money and value, commons, and struggles. Ultimately, the book shines light on the continuing relevance of Caffentzis and Federici's work in the twenty-first century for understanding anti-capitalism, 'primitive accumulation' and the commons, feminism, reproductive labour and Marx's value theory.
An organization's workforce is arguably the greatest asset of any organization, and tourism and hospitality is an extremely labor-intensive industry. This volume takes an in-depth look at workforce issues in the tourism and hospitality industry, focusing on labor skills, ethics, rights, and more. It examines manpower planning beyond forecasting estimates to include investigative techniques in a way that offers insight for economic planning in both tourism and tourism education. The authors use economic, sociological, and psychological analysis and take a pragmatic stance on the challenges of the workforce. The authors look at the specifics of the labor market of the tourism and hospitality industry, discussing the current status of the industry's organizations and how they are suffering labor shortages (qualitative or quantitative) and constant turnover-resulting in significant costs to organizations. Topics such as low wages and overdependence on tipping, workforce diversity, technological change resistance, and seasonality issues, and more are examined. The volume also provides a section on labor rights in the tourism and hospitality industry, which looks at labor trafficking and issues in social justice and human rights. Key features: * Provides an in-depth understanding of tourism employment * Presents a critical analysis of labor supply and demand in the tourism and hospitality industries * Considers the need for specific labor skills and training * Examines the reasons for labor shortages and turnover in the tourism and hospitality industry * Discusses labor ethics and social responsibility in hospitality/tourism organizations
"Urban IllusionS" is the best first-hand account I know of the struggle to solve the employment problem in American cities. Mike Bernick combines a knowledge of the issues as seen from Washington with actual experience leading anti-poverty programs at the local level, a rare combination. He writes extremely well, and he makes shrewd suggestions for where employment policy should go from here. Anybody interested in American social policy will find this book invaluable. "Lawrence M. Mead, Author of Beyond Entitlement" "Urban IllusionS" goes beyond description of inner city unemployment to consider efforts to reduce the problem. It directly examines the successes and failures that have resulted from past attempts to reduce employment. Although the volume includes data on poverty and government anti-poverty programs, it is written from the perspective of one working on a local, grass-roots level: author Michael Bernick is the founder and executive Director of this outstanding inner city employment program.
In a much-publicized and much-maligned 2003 New York Times article, "The Opt-Out Revolution," the journalist Lisa Belkin made the controversial argument that highly educated women who enter the workplace tend to leave upon marrying and having children. Women Who Opt Out is a collection of original essays by the leading scholars in the field of work and family research, which takes a multi-disciplinary approach in questioning the basic thesis of "the opt-out revolution." The contributors illustrate that the desire to balance both work and family demands continues to be a point of unresolved concern for families and employers alike and women's equity within the workforce still falls behind. Ultimately, they persuasively make the case that most women who leave the workplace are being pushed out by a work environment that is hostile to women, hostile to children, and hostile to the demands of family caregiving, and that small changes in outdated workplace policies regarding scheduling, flexibility, telecommuting and mandatory overtime can lead to important benefits for workers and employers alike. Contributors: Kerstin Aumann, Jamie Dolkas, Ellen Galinsky, Lisa Ackerly Hernandez, Susan J. Lambert, Joya Misra, Maureen Perry-Jenkins, Peggie R. Smith, Pamela Stone, and Joan C. Williams. Listen to Bernie D. Jones on WPYR Radio: Mothers and the delicate work-family balance
In 1907, pioneering labor historian and economist John Commons
argued that U.S. management had shown just one "symptom of
originality," namely "playing one race against the other."
In 2004, the U.S. State Department declared Filipina hostesses in
Japan the largest group of sex trafficked persons in the world.
Since receiving this global attention, the number of hostesses
entering Japan has dropped by nearly 90 percentOCofrom more than
80,000 in 2004 to just over 8,000 today. To some, this might
suggest a victory for the global anti-trafficking campaign, but
Rhacel Parreas counters that this drastic declineOCowhich stripped
thousands of migrants of their livelihoodsOCois in truth a setback.
Recent years have witnessed a rapidly growing interest in the use and construction of "qualitative" indicators of labour standards. This is likely attributable to several factors: the rise of "socially responsible" investment, ongoing debates on the effects of labour standards on international competitiveness, and the sense that traditional quantitative indicators of labour standards are too narrow in scope to adequately capture the wide-ranging and inherently qualitative nature of many aspects of labour standards. Qualitative indicators, while generally having numerical values, are based on such methods as grading by experts, the coding of legislation, and the coding of other textual sources addressing violations of a more de facto nature. Measuring compliance with labour standards is an undertaking intrinsically fraught with difficulty. For there are a number of possible sources of measurement error, both random and non-random, that are unique to such indicators, on top of those that affect qualitative and quantitative indicators alike. The growing use of qualitative indicators of labour standards thus raises a number of questions about comparative methods of construction as well as the appropriateness of particular methods for particular applications. This volume results from a seminar that was organized to address these and related questions.
How often do working-class children obtain college degrees and then
pursue professional careers? Conversely, how frequently do the
children of doctors and lawyers fail to enter high status careers
upon completion of their schooling? As inequalities of wealth and
income have increased in industrialized nations over the past 30
years, have patterns of between-generation mobility changed? |
![]() ![]() You may like...
Labour Relations In Practice - A…
Sonia Bendix, Eloise Abrahams
Paperback
Labour Disrupted - Reflections On The…
Malehoko Tshoaedi, Christine Bischoff, …
Paperback
Arab Manpower (RLE Economy of Middle…
J.S. Birks, C A Sinclair
Hardcover
R4,655
Discovery Miles 46 550
Human Capital Policy - Reducing…
David Neumark, Yong-seong Kim, …
Hardcover
R3,329
Discovery Miles 33 290
|