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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Work & labour
This title was first published in 2001. Addressing a significant gap in existing literature, this book presents a gender-informed analysis of the post-fordist economy. It incorporates a gender dimension into the economic restructuring debate on both a theoretical and a practical level, and explores the implications of economic restructuring in the workplace for gender relations..
With China's rapid advancements in urbanization and industrialization, there has been significant labor movement away from agriculture in the rural regions. Using four village case studies, Song examines how this restructuring process affects the rural population. Much of her research is centered on their various perceptions and reactions towards the market reforms. How are their lives reshaped through the employment transition? Along with the changes of family life and the diversification of development models, how do an individual's gender and background play a role in determining employment? These are the broad questions that Song addresses through detailed analysis of four different villages, in light of China's move towards decentralization of its rural economy.
Many families leave their children for years to be looked after by young people about whom they know next to nothing, from places they have barely heard of. Who are these au pairs, why do they come and what is their experience of this arrangement? Do they, for their part, find that they are treated as one of the family, and would they even want to be? After a year of careful research, this book shows how most of our assumptions and expectations about au pairs are wrong.This is the first book devoted to the lives of au pairs, their leisure as well as their work time. We see this world from the eyes of the visitors, and their unique perspective on what lies at the heart of our family life. The book does not flinch from documenting the realities of the situation o the racism and the problematic behaviour of the au pairs themselves, as much as the ignorance and exploitation they can be subject to. The book is a case study in how to come to feel modern life empathetically from the viewpoint of one of those many migrant groups we take for granted and rely on but rarely try to understand.
From the perspective of trade unions, European integration makes it more necessary than ever before to establish common political positions. At the same time, increasing heterogeneity between the member states makes the crafting of such positions more and more difficult. Can, under these circumstances, a joint political line among European trade unions emerge? To answer this question, the book sheds light on transnational trade union cooperation in the three most important policy fields: the debate around the Freedom of services, the discussion over a European minimum wage, and the efforts of international wage coordination. Drawing on the results of extensive field research based on a qualitative study among trade unions from Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and Germany, as well as representatives from the European level, this book points to a significant gap in European trade union politics between pretensions and reality. The findings provide a solid theoretical framework, suitable not only to explain current dynamics in the field of European trade unionism, but also promising for further research on the topic. With its focus on a contested political field, Trade Unions in the Course of European Integration contributes to practical and theoretical debates within European trade unionism. As an adequate understanding of European trade unionism in general and collective bargaining requires a twofold perspective on European integration and the role of trade unions in European labor relations, two fields of scholarly interest are being addressed. Moreover, with its focus on European trade unionism as an internationalist project of labor politics, the book will also appeal to those interested in the field of Global Labor Studies.
Experts from across all industrial-organizational (IO) psychology describe how increasingly rapid technological change has affected the field. In each chapter, authors describe how this has altered the meaning of IO research within a particular subdomain and what steps must be taken to avoid IO research from becoming obsolete. This Handbook presents a forward-looking review of IO psychology's understanding of both workplace technology and how technology is used in IO research methods. Using interdisciplinary perspectives to further this understanding and serving as a focal text from which this research will grow, it tackles three main questions facing the field. First, how has technology affected IO psychological theory and practice to date? Second, given the current trends in both research and practice, could IO psychological theories be rendered obsolete? Third, what are the highest priorities for both research and practice to ensure IO psychology remains appropriately engaged with technology moving forward?
Revolutionary feminism is resurging across the world. But what were its origins? In the early 1970s, the International Feminist Collective began to organise around the call for recognition of the different forms of labour performed by women. They paved the way for the influential and controversial feminist campaign 'Wages for Housework' which made great strides towards driving debates in social reproduction and the gendered aspects of labour. Drawing on extensive archival research, Louise Toupin looks at the history of this movement between 1972 and 1977, featuring unpublished conversations with some of its founders including Silvia Federici and Mariarosa Dalla Costa, as well as activists from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Canada. Encompassing rich theoretical traditions, including autonomism, anti-colonialism and feminism, whilst challenging both classical Marxism and the mainstream women's movement, the book highlights the power and originality of the campaign. Among their many innovations, these pathbreaking activists approached gender, sexuality, race and class together in a way that anticipated intersectionality and had a radical new understanding of sex work.
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title A survey into an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven global development Is job insecurity the new norm? With fewer and fewer people working in steady, long-term positions for one employer, has the dream of a secure job with full benefits and a decent salary become just that-a dream? In Nice Work If You Can Get It, Andrew Ross surveys the new topography of the global workplace and finds an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven development on a massive scale. Combining detailed case studies with lucid analysis and graphic prose, he looks at what the new landscape of contingent employment means for workers across national, class, and racial lines-from the emerging "creative class" of high-wage professionals to the multitudes of temporary, migrant, or low-wage workers. Developing the idea of "precarious livelihoods" to describe this new world of work and life, Ross explores what it means in developed nations-comparing the creative industry policies of the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, as well as developing countries-by examining the quickfire transformation of China's labor market. He also responds to the challenge of sustainability, assessing the promise of "green jobs" through restorative alliances between labor advocates and environmentalists. Ross argues that regardless of one's views on labor rights, globalization, and quality of life, this new precarious and "indefinite life,&" and the pitfalls and opportunities that accompany it is likely here to stay and must be addressed in a systematic way. A more equitable kind of knowledge society emerges in these pages-less skewed toward flexploitation and the speculative beneficiaries of intellectual property, and more in tune with ideals and practices that are fair, just, and renewable.
For over a century, creativity has unfolded as a valuable field of knowledge. Emerging from disciplines like psychology, management and education, the field of creativity is making strides in others including the arts and engineering. Research and education in this field helped it establish an identity as evidenced by a growing number of courses and specialised journals. However, this progress has come with a price. In a domain like management, institutionalisation of creativity in learning, research and practice has left creativity subordinated to concerns with standardisation, employability and economic growth. Values like personal fulfilment, uncertainty, improvement and connectedness which could characterise systemic views on creativity need to be rescued to promote more and inclusive dialogue between creativity stakeholders. The author aims to recover the importance of creativity as a systemic phenomenon and explores how applied systems thinking, or AST, can further support creativity. This demonstrates how creative efforts could be directed to improve quality of life for individuals as well as their environments. The book uses the systems idea as an enquiring device to bring together different actors to promote refl ection and action about creative possibilities. The chapters offer conceptualisations, applications and refl ections of systems ideas to help readers make sense of the field of creativity in academia and elsewhere. Complemented by the author's own personal, conceptual and practical journey, the insights of the book will act as a vital toolkit for management researchers, career-driven students, practitioners and all creators to define and pursue creative ideas and thrive through their journeys to benefit themselves, other people and organisations.
The occupational world of electronic news-gathering photographers is the focus of this study, which seeks to reveal their perceptions of their work and the knowledge and competence that underlie it. These goals are accomplished through the ethnographic analysis of qualitative data gathered through participant observation in their natural setting--at work. A reflexive description of the data explores the emerging nature of the occupation, the context of markets within which it exists, the people involved, and the practical skills required for the work.
The Nordic countries have the world's best working life. Unlike in many other countries, global competition has not created inequality, uncertainty, long working hours, standardization and restrictive managerial control. The main reason for this lies in the way interests are expressed and conflicts are resolved. Both employees and employers are well organized and both recognize the interests of the other. Working life develops in a constant interaction between conflict and compromise. This book examines working conditions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. It explores how these good working conditions are created and maintained. The chapters explain: How work organization is formed How education, training and work place learning give access to the labour market How work is managed in the public sector How precarious work unfolds in the Nordic countries. Work and Wellbeing in the Nordic Countries is addressed to all those who have interest in the quality of working life. It will be of particular use to all students, academics and policy makers working in the fields of social policy, wellbeing, management studies, employment relations, work sociology and work psychology.
Originally published in 1984, The World of Waiters provides a close look at the area of everyday working life, focusing on the profession of waiters. The book addresses the complex world of waiters, look at the insecurities, hierarchies and 'the politics of serving' that come into play in the everyday working life of a waiter. The book addresses the issues facing waiters in everyday life, including the placing and spacing of customers, the process of ordering and tipping, and customer complaints - all of these are looked at through the lens of the rules adhered to by waiters. The book is created from data compiled by the from 5 English hotels at varying grades. This book provides an interesting case study of the restaurant industry, and will be of interest to any academics working in the field of sociology, in particular the field of the sociology of work and anthropology.
Due to the recent global financial crises, academic business schools have come in for much criticism, having, in the eyes of the public, failed in their responsibility to society by teaching future managers only how to increase their personal gain without any consideration as to their actions' social and cultural consequences. Realising that there is a pressing need to innovate their educational offers accordingly, business schools are beginning to turn to the humanities and social sciences to improve on the understanding and thus the teaching of management. This book is the result of an empirical study conducted at eight academic business schools that either already practise or are beginning to practise linking management education to the humanities and social sciences. Gathered mostly in interviews our research team conducted during site visits to these schools, the material presented shows three major fields of concern: how to shift the focus from instrumental to transformative learning, how to reframe the concept of disciplinary subject matter towards a more relational understanding of knowledge-especially in the light of the impact digitalisation is having on education-and how to address the organisational, as well as the political consequences of management education turning towards the inclusion of the humanities and social sciences strategically. The findings indicate that the humanities and social sciences indeed offer knowledge which can significantly help management education with meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. Innovating management education by making it part of its program portfolios proves a challenge in and of itself in the face of a university system which still determinedly clings to disciplinary segregation. Reforming management education towards an engagement with fields of knowledge traditionally at best ignored and at worst vilified as being completely useless in the "real world" may therefore place academic business schools at the forefront of a movement that is beginning to reshape the educational landscape as a whole. This book will be of value to researchers, academics and students in the fields of business, management studies, organisational studies and education studies.
While so many Latino/Chicano Americans struggle in pursuit of the 'American dream', while figures such as Donald Trump are accepted in mainstream politics, and scaremongering and paranoia is rife, the need for a vivid, empirically grounded study on Latino politics, culture and society has never been greater. The Latino Question fulfils this need, offering a cutting-edge analysis of the transformative nature of Latino politics in the US. In a radical alternative to dominant ideas, the authors emphasise the importance of political economy for understanding Latino politics, culture and social issues. It draws from original research and a number of critical traditions including the thought of Karl Marx and Antonio Gramsci, to understand the politics of race and ethnicity in a modern capitalist society. Including case studies of how Latino/Chicano communities across the US are not only resisting, but also reinventing and transforming ethnic politics in the age of neoliberalism, this book is required reading for all those hoping to understand the 'Latino question' in contemporary America.
Originally published in 1982 Cheats at Work looks at occupations from an anthropological point of view, using a similar format to analysis of cultures in the study of anthropology. The author uses an extensive set of quotations drawn from over a hundred informants at all social levels. The interviews reveal a distinct set of ideologies and attitudes from various occupations. The book looks specifically at cheating, lying and deception in various occupations, and the interviews reveal how and why people cheat, and deceive their customers and clients, how they learn the concealed tricks and professions and how they justify this.
Professional Emotions in Court examines the paramount role of emotions in the legal professions and in the functioning of the democratic judicial system. Based on extensive interview and observation data in Sweden, the authors highlight the silenced background emotions and the tacitly habituated emotion management in the daily work at courts and prosecution offices. Following participants 'backstage' - whether at the office or at lunch - in order to observe preparations for and reflections on the performance in court itself, this book sheds light on the emotionality of courtroom interactions, such as professional collaboration, negotiations, and challenges, with the analysis of micro-interactions being situated in the broader structural regime of the legal system - the emotive-cognitive judicial frame - throughout. A demonstration of the false dichotomy between emotion and reason that lies behind the assumption of a judicial system that operates rationally and without emotion, Professional Emotions in Court reveals how this assumption shapes professionals' perceptions and performance of their work, but hampers emotional reflexivity, and questions whether the judicial system might gain in legitimacy if the role of emotional processes were recognized and reflected upon.
What does it mean to have a "good" or "bad" reputation? How does it create or destroy value, or shape chances to pursue particular opportunities? Where do reputations come from? How do we measure them? How do we build and manage them? Over the last twenty years the answers to these questions have become increasingly important-and increasingly problematic-for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the creation, management, and role of reputation in corporate life. This Handbook intends to bring definitional clarity to these issues, giving an account of extant research and theory and offering guidance about where scholarship on corporate reputation might most profitably head. Eminent scholars from a variety of disciplines, such as management, sociology, economics, finance, history, marketing, and psychology, have contributed chapters to provide state of the art definitions of corporate reputation; differentiate reputation from other constructs and intangible assets; offer guidance on measuring reputation; consider the role of reputation as a corporate asset and how a variety of factors, including stage of life, nation of origin, and the stakeholders considered affect its ability to create value; and explore corporate reputation's role more broadly as a regulatory mechanism. Finally, they also discuss how to manage and grow reputations, as well as repair them when they are damaged. In discussing these issues this Handbook aims to move the field of corporate reputation research forward by demonstrating where the field is now, addressing some of the perpetual problems of definition and differentiation, and suggesting future research directions.
Now available in paperback with a new preface and foreword by Stella Nkomo. How might imperialist, masculinist and white supremacist grips on leadership be loosened? In this thought-provoking and accessible new study, Helena Liu suggests that anti-racist feminism can challenge conventional models and practices of power. Combining a critical review of leadership theory with enlightening examples from around the world, the book shows how the intellectual and activist elements of feminist movements provide antidotes to contemporary leadership research and practice. For those interested in management, organisation, feminism, race and many more studies, it sets the agenda for a radical reimagining of control and leadership in all its forms.
***Evening Standard's best non-fiction 2021*** 'A brilliant, searing expose of the lies underpinning work' - Owen Jones 'Work hard, get paid.' It's simple. Self-evident. But it's also a lie-at least for most of us. For people today, the old assumptions are crumbling; hard work in school no longer guarantees a secure, well-paying job in the future. Far from a gateway to riches and fulfilment, 'work' means precarity, anxiety and alienation. Amelia Horgan poses three big questions: what is work? How does it harm us? And what can we do about it? While abolishing work altogether is not the answer, Lost in Work shows that when we are able to take control of our workplaces, we become less miserable, and can work towards the transformative goal of experimenting with 'work' as we know it.
First published in 1987. This fascinating study provides an understanding of the failings of the post-war era of active macroeconomic policy-making, and only by a better comprehension of past failings can we hope to provide the successful policies for the present and future. The book takes as its primary bench mark an analysis of Keynes's conception of the wages problem at or near full employment in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. It then depicts the developments in official thinking and policy with regard to this problem as the confidence in Keynesian principles waxed and waned over the period.
First published in 1990. This edited work brings together a collection of studies, by an international team of contributors, on inter-urban migration, which is largely dominated by labour migration. The structure of the book reflects the interaction of the supply and demand of labour and the information flows that make this possible. The book offers a multi-dimensional analysis of labour migration, including behavioural, economic and institutional approaches. It combines various scales of analysis, including the national scale, the occupational scale and the household scale. The study also examines labour migration in a variety of national contexts. It will be of particular value to professional geographers, economists and sociologists with an interest in the distribution of population and the labour force, planners with responsibility for the development of policy and some final year graduate students.
First published in 1990. Patterns of Labour explores the interaction between home, paid work, and the individual. It looks at how the social relations of work both shape and are shaped by the context in which they occur. In a detailed examination of the pottery industries of Britain and America over two centuries, Richard Whipp looks at the far-reaching effects of key issues, such as industrialisation and economic transformation. However, he also examines changing notions of gender, the family, community and unionisation. The book centres on the difficulties of organising, controlling and describing work - not least because of the human act of its making.
First published in 1986. This study examines both labor's and management's political activities in the state of Massachusetts. The book, while historical in character, provides an interpretation of change, and identifies, describes and interprets temporal sequences. The primary aim of this study is to trace the evolution of public policy in the United States in the broad area of labor-management relations. The attempts of organized labor and management groups to influence public policy through the political process are examined, with a more detailed examination of labor and management political struggles in Massachusetts. This title will be of interest to students of political and labor history.
This book provides a systematic overview on issues and challenges related to work identity and identification at work in the new South African workplace. It shares results and measures of a work identity research project that was conducted in a variety of modern South African workplaces. It looks at the concept of work identity in the light of a keen and growing interest in why people are becoming attached to, involved in, engaged with, or committed to their work. Still a relatively unexplored concept, built on the foundations of different identity theory streams, the concept of work identity provides a fundamental reconsideration of explaining engaging behaviours at work. Against the backdrop of a changing political and economic landscape and the impact these radical changes had on the South African workplace, the main research question of the project was the South African employees question Who am I at work? . In search of the answer to that question, the book explores the impact of South African employees life spheres and life roles on their choice of work-related identification foci. It further explores how identity work tactics and strategies are being used to develop and define their own work identities, resulting in the conceptualisation and development of a work-based identity measure."
How can universities ensure that they are preparing their students for today's competitive job market? This book tackles the highly topical subject of graduate underemployment with insight and clarity. The authors argue the case for more sophisticated research into employability with passion and vision, discussing how employability-friendly curricula can be developed, even in subjects which have less obvious vocational relevance. The rapid growth of higher education over the past fifty years has seen expectations increase, and governments seeking to widen participation. There is now an urgent need for the Government and higher education institutions to address the issue of graduate employability. The authors of this timely book encourage a pro-active stance, offering a ground-breaking model that can be easily implemented in institutions to make low-cost, high-gain improvements to students' employability. Topics covered include: * The challenge of employability * The study and careers of English graduates * The enhancement of practice * Assessing employability * The Skills Plus project. Based on a set of over 200 in-depth interviews with recent graduates, this book forms a unique account of the meanings of employability in the workplace.
The experience of Hong Kong's innovative and creative industries and the challenges they face serves as an important case study for other Chinese and Asian cities that are actively developing their innovative and creative industries in the era of globalization. The return of sovereignty over Hong Kong back to China in 1997 has led to both collaboration and competition between the two places in innovative and creative sectors for the Greater China and Asian Regions. Hong Kong has remained unique in spite of the integration, but she has to strike a delicate balance between being simultaneously a Chinese and an international city. This book looks at different innovative and creative industries, such as international art and culture exhibition, innovative technology, digital entertainment, TV and movies, as well as government policy for innovative and creative industries, particularly the changing competitive landscape brought about by the latest Great Bay Area development. Drawing insights from cultural history, innovation economics, cultural policy studies, and cultural geography, this book explores the opportunities and challenges of Hong Kong's innovative and creative industries, in particular after the change of sovereignty in 1997. It demonstrates that the city's legacy, and heavy government input in capital, do not guarantee their sustainable development. This is a book not only for policymakers or academics interested in innovative and creative industries but also to students contemplating a career in these areas in Hong Kong, the Greater China and the Asian Region. |
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