Based on contributions from international experts, this volume provides an up-to-date account of globalization's influences on individual life courses in nine different modern societies, and of cross-nationally varying political strategies to mediate this influence.

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.

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

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.
Parreas worked alongside hostesses in a working-class club in Tokyo's red-light district, serving drinks, singing karaoke, and entertaining her customers, including members of the "yakuza," the Japanese crime syndicate. While the common assumption has been that these hostess bars are hotbeds of sexual trafficking, Parreas quickly discovered a different world of working migrant women, there by choice, and, most importantly, where none were coerced into prostitution. But this is not to say that the hostesses were not vulnerable in other ways.
"Illicit Flirtations" challenges our understandings of human trafficking and calls into question the U.S. policy to broadly label these women as sex trafficked. It highlights how in imposing top-down legal constraints to solve the perceived problemsOCoincluding laws that push dependence on migrant brokers, guest worker policies that bind migrants to an employer, marriage laws that limit the integration of migrants, and measures that criminalize undocumented migrantsOComany women become more vulnerable to exploitation, not less. It is not the jobs themselves, but the regulation that makes migrants susceptible to trafficking. If we are to end the exploitation of people, we first need to understand the actual experiences of migrants, not rest on global policy statements. This book gives a long overdue look into the real world of those labeled as trafficked.

This comprehensive two volume collection is designed to introduce the reader to the systems of innovation literature. This is the first time that one major reference collection brings together some of the best known and most provocative literature from a variety of different perspectives, such as national, sectoral and regional systems of innovation. Classics such as the seminal papers by Schumpeter and List as well as modern authors are included, and the collection focuses on issues of economic growth, competitiveness and employment. Systems of Innovation will be essential reading for researchers and practitioners and will be an invaluable source of reference for use in innovation courses at university level.

Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. Leaving her home, she took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity? exposing the darker side of American prosperity and the true cost of the American dream.

"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.

This book explores the new challenges for work and employment relations in the wake of globalization. It describes contemporary developments and ways in which labor relations systems are evolving around the world and in Turkey. Authors combine the latest information with in-depth insights on a variety of issues. The implications of international trade for employment, the dichotomy between competitiveness and meeting international labor standards, the multinationals effects on labor relations, social policy implications of American higher education, the search for the right regulatory balance between labor flexibility and job security, challenges faced in establishing temporary work agencies, the role of skills training and providing women with micro credits to overcome informal employment problems are just some of the issues analyzed in this book. Thus, the contributions from Turkish and international institutions offer a valuable overview of the ongoing discussions in the field of labor economics and employment relations."

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.

Originally published in 1990. Why has the pattern of ownership in British industry changed so dramatically in recent years? This high-level and wide-ranging discussion on the developments of the industrial scene in Britain investigates why such changes have occurred, and explores their impact on management and work relations. The contributors consider whether this trend will continue, arguing that these changes will have far-reaching consequences for both western and eastern political economies in the twenty-first century. This title will be of interest to students of business, economics and management.

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.

Originally published in 1992 this book charts the global restructuring of telecommunications industries away from the monopoly structures of the past towards increased competition, deregulation and privatization. The book's authors are international policy-makers and scholars, who examine the regulatory environment within a theoretical and historical context. The book looks at the roots of regulatory and legislative changes by discussing individually the countries at the forefront of the revolution: the UK, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. It examines the impact of new technology for consequences of change in trade and government policies.

First Published in 1981, Ideology and Shop-Floor Industrial Relations is based on data obtained in observational research amongst managers, shop stewards and workers, examines the informal processes by which accommodations are or are not, reached by managers and workers. Since the publication of the Donovan Report industrial relations research has increasingly moved away from studies of formal procedures and institutions and focused more on informal custom and practice. In this book, the authors develop a theory of workplace rule making, and argue that it is in negotiations over such detailed and often minor daily industrial issues that the relationship between capital and labour is worked out. This book is a must read for scholars of industrial economics and management studies.

The revolution in new technology gave rise to new work patterns and improved productivity, all of which affect the management of human resources. Expectations for increased efficiency have not always been fulfilled because of the problems that have arisen in workings of labour relations. How can management maximize the benefits of these technologies while co-operating with their employees? How far are trade unions involved in the decisions as companies adopt new technology? Is the workforce consulted in systems design? This book, originally published in 1992 looks at the problems of developing strategies in information technology when considering labour relations. Experts in industrial sociology, human resource management and organizational behaviour assess the achievements and failures, including consideration of issues such as public sector work, gender and race. Drawing on empirical evidence, the contributors cover a wide range of industries including case studies in electronics and banking, together with international comparisons.

Originally published in 1993, this book contains 4 studies on Asia: Bangladesh, India, South Korea and Sri Lanka. The studies reflect 4 different patterns of technological transformation. India, with its large populaiton has made considerable progress but its overall development has been slow until recently. At the other extreme, South Korea which had a very low per capita income in the 1950s registered a quantum leap in technological transformation within a short span of 30 years. The heritage of Bangladesh's past has constrained its progress in overcoming structural weaknesses but in comparison, Sri Lanka displays a very different pattern. The sources used draw upon research in development economics, economic history, technology and studies in general and country studies in particular.

Women migrants are doubly-disadvantaged by their sex and outsider status when moving to a new country. Highly skilled women are no exception to this rule. This book explores the complex relationship between gender and high-skill migration, with a special focus on the impact of the current economic crisis on highly skilled women-migrants in Europe.

Precarity is a key theme in political discourse, in media and academic discussions of employment, and within the labour movement. Often, the prevailing idea is of an endless march of precarity, rendering work ever more contingent and workers ever more disposable. However, this detailed study of the UK labour force challenges the picture of rising precarity and widespread use of temporary employment, suggesting instead that employment tenure and the extent of temporary work have proved stubbornly stable over the past four decades. Choonara offers a new approach to labour markets, drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of Marxist political economy to interrogate research data from the UK. This book examines why, despite the deteriorating conditions in work, employment relations have remained stable, and offers insight into the extent of subjective insecurity among workers. Insecurity, Precarious Work and Labour Markets will be of use to students and scholars across the sociology of work, labour economics, industrial relations and political economy.

This book focuses on issues that are relevant for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. The depth and the extension of the current political crisis in the area have changed the perspectives of conventional Euro-Mediterranean integration policies. The book provides the grounds for new patterns of analysis and addresses policy guidelines which are able to respond to the dramatic challenges that Mediterranean regions are facing. By implementing a multidisciplinary approach, the volume uncovers the structural determinants of migrations in the area: territorial and social imbalances, climate change, unemployment, weak institutions, poor governance, lack of efficient redistributive policies. Each chapter proposes innovative and rich analyses of the socio-economic conditions of all Mediterranean countries. The prevailing evidence suggests that while the North-South imbalances still persist inside the basin, the recent world economic and financial crises have deepened social, intergenerational and gender inequalities. These inequalities cross all territories both nationally and internationally and affect the living conditions of large segments of population in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. To bridge these gaps it is necessary to strengthen territorial cohesion, reduce income differentials, and improve the access of marginal areas to basic infrastructure. These long term goals can be achieved through an inclusive development model for which young people and women can enjoy the same opportunities of education and work. Offering innovative and practical guidelines for future programs and policies, this book is essential reading for policy makers, researchers at policy think tanks as well as academics and post graduate students of Mediterranean studies and Economic Policy. The general policy recipes, provided to govern migration flows, make useful reading for national and international research centres and major governmental agencies interested in migration issues.

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 this eye-opening book, David Roediger and Elizabeth Esch offer a radically new way of understanding the history of management in the United States, placing race, migration, and empire at the center of what has sometimes been narrowly seen as a search for efficiency and economy. Ranging from the antebellum period to the coming of the Great Depression, the book examines the extensive literature slave masters produced on how to manage and "develop" slaves; explores what was perhaps the greatest managerial feat in U.S. history, the building of the transcontinental railroad, which pitted Chinese and Irish work gangs against each other; and concludes by looking at how these strategies survive today in the management of hard, low-paying, dangerous jobs in agriculture, military support, and meatpacking. Roediger and Esch convey what slaves, immigrants, and all working people were up against as the objects of managerial control. Managers explicitly ranked racial groups, both in terms of which labor they were best suited for and their relative value compared to others. The authors show how whites relied on such alleged racial knowledge to manage and believed that the "lesser races" could only benefit from their tutelage. These views wove together managerial strategies and white supremacy not only ideologically but practically, every day at workplaces. Even in factories governed by scientific management, the impulse to play races against each other, and to slot workers into jobs categorized by race, constituted powerful management tools used to enforce discipline, lower wages, keep workers on dangerous jobs, and undermine solidarity.
Painstakingly researched and brilliantly argued, The Production of Difference will revolutionize the history of labor race in the United States.

The emergence of new platform business models, notably the sharing economy, is impacting the economy in various ways, altering the structure of many industries, and raising a number of economic and political issues. This book investigates the widespread influence of the sharing economy on businesses and society, as well as examining its underpinning economic principles and development. This volume presents an exhaustive review of the existing knowledge on the sharing economy and addresses several major areas of concern for incumbent businesses. It also explains the business models for those who are interested in embarking on their own ventures and provides an excellent source for further research. It takes an in-depth look at controversial labour policies, such as using labour as self-employed contractors or using regulatory grey areas to expand in markets. It is highly multidisciplinary, establishing links between economics, finance, marketing and consumer behaviour. This contribution on the sharing economy will enable researchers and graduate and doctoral students to expand and improve their understanding of this topic and identify new research problems in all of these areas. The book will also appeal to policy makers, regional and local government decision makers, and those interested in labour markets transformation.

Mit dem Anstieg der Lebenserwartung in Europa geht ein Wandel der Erwerbs- und Lebensverlaufe einher, die durch Bruche und Wechsel der beruflichen Tatigkeiten gepragt sind. Ein zentrales Anliegen ist daher, jedem die Teilhabe am Erwerbsleben uber den gesamten Lebensverlauf zu ermoeglichen und zugleich soziale Rechte durch angemessenen sozialen Schutz zu gewahrleisten. Mit juristischen, sozialpolitischen und empirischen Analysen widmet sich dieses Buch dem Zusammenspiel verschiedener Sozialschutzmechanismen und ihren Schwierigkeiten, sich den neuen Entwicklungen anzupassen. Es prasentiert die Impulse europaischer Instanzen und die Antworten verschiedener europaischer Staaten auf die Herausforderung, Flexibilisierung der Beschaftigung und Modernisierung der Sozialschutzsysteme in Einklang zu bringen. Increasing life expectancy in Europe entails a remodelling of career development and life course, marked by discontinuities and changing professional activities. One of the concerns is ensuring that everybody may participate in gainful activities during his or her life course while also guaranteeing social rights through adequate social protection. By means of legal, socio-political and empirical analyses this book embarks on the interrelationship of different social protection mechanisms and the resulting difficulties of adapting to these new employment patterns. It presents European impulses and the reactions of several European states to the challenge of reconciling flexibility of employment and modernisation of social protection. L'augmentation de l'esperance de vie en Europe suscite un changement des modes de parcours professionnels et de vie constitues de ruptures et de conversions d'activite. L'une des preoccupations est de permettre a chacun de poursuivre une activite professionnelle tout au long de sa vie tout en pouvant beneficier d'une protection sociale adaptee. A travers des analyses juridiques, socio-politiques et empiriques, cet ouvrage aborde les interferences et les difficultes d'adaptation des mecanismes de protection sociale aux nouvelles evolutions. Il presente les impulsions europeennes et les choix effectues au niveau national pour concilier flexibilite de l'emploi et modernisation des systemes de protection sociale.

This essential student resource is the first of its kind to study this period. Working chronologically from the early 1840s up to the end of the twentieth century, it examines over 150 years of women's employment history and the struggles they have faced.
With suggestions for research topics, an annotated bibliography to aid further research and a chronology of important events which places the subject in a broader historical context, Gerry Holloway considers how factors such as class, age, marital status, race and locality, along with wider economic and political issues, have affected women's job opportunities and status.
Key themes and issues that run through the book include:
* continuity and change
* the sexual division of labor
* women as a cheap labor force
* women's perceived primary role of motherhood
* women and trade unions
* equality and difference
* education and training.
Students of women's studies, gender studies and history will find this a fascinating and invaluable addition to their reading material.

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.

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.