In this volume the focus is on the interrelations of the global and the local in their consequences for work. The process of restructuring of work is analyzed as an ongoing, locally situated process in which actors within work organizations play an important role. Nevertheless, when taking the context of work organizations into account, the increasing importance of the global on the local processes is obvious. Local practices keep their central importance, but the global doesn't function only as a context for the local anymore but forms more and more a practice of itself in which an increasing number of actors play their part. As we can see on the World Wide Web, people and firms are both emitters and receptors and act on the local and global level at the same time.

Local diversity in a world with increasing interdependencies is shown in a number of contributions from different parts of the world. These contributions are clustered around two main themes:
1. Labor markets in global and local scenarios. From industry to services;
2. Global industries. Restructuring and local jobs
The many case studies presented shed light to the diversity that occurs in different local situations.

Based on a unique comparative analysis of the education and work experiences of those who lived through the political and labour market changes of the transition to post-communism, the authors argue that, far from catching up with the rest of Germany, the social polarisations and erosion of the traditional 'dual system' of vocational education and training in Eastern Germany may portend the future for the West. The issues raised have considerable resonances with the problems and contradictions which have beset British education and training and labour market policy over the last decade.

Since 1986, when America's current perception of a drug abuse crisis in the workplace began, many challenges and potential solutions have been identified. As we enter the 1990s, real progress in awareness and action has been made in many public and private American workplaces. However, the most important accomplishment--actual reduction in the number of persons using drugs in the workforce--is considerably more difficult to achieve. Research is being conducted in a number of employment settings to document how this can be done. While the results to date are encouraging, it is also clear that much remains to be done. Evidence from the national research reported in this book shows that many organizations regard their achievements on this front as modest at best, even though they have installed systematic programs aimed at reducing the problems of worker drug abuse.

The organizational change approach required to achieve drug-free workplaces is the main subject of this book. Based upon findings from a three-year national research study, Thomas Backer and Kirk O'Hara examine what has been done to combat drug abuse in the workplace. They place the results of their inquiry within the larger context of organizational change theory. The critical secondary issues of responses to AIDS in the workplace and containing employer health care costs through managed care are also addressed. This book's focus on programmatic responses to workplace drug abuse at the day-to-day implementation level will be welcomed by substance abuse professionals, designers and directors of employee assistance programs, human resources and benefits professionals, and managers concerned about substance abuse in the workplace.

Since the legalisation of off-course cash betting in 1960, and the rise of varying forms of gambling, the British have come to be known as a nation of gamblers. Until this study was published in 1976, barely any evidence existed against which to assess the claim that gambling had become a major social problem. The authors present data drawn from area surveys carried out in Swansea, Sheffield, Wanstead and Woodford, and explore how well previous sociological theories of gambling agree with their findings, particular in connection with certain aspects of work and leisure. Examining different forms of gambling, including betting, bingo and gaming machines, the chapters consider how gambling choices vary between different social groups, and how much time and money is spent on them. With the internet making it easier than ever before to place bets, this title is especially relevant, and provides a systematic basis for an explanation of gambling in relation to social structure.

This timely book is about raising awareness of the rights of disabled people to full equality and participation in all areas. It aims to show that disability is an issue of concern to all of us. It is for university faculty staff teaching courses on education law and policy and serves as a resource for students conducting research, government officials, and professionals in these fields.

This book examines the development of enterprise among key migrant groups in Europe and the United States. It argues that the development of 'ethnic economies' provides the material basis for alternative models of social integration, such as multiculturalism 'from below', which are critical of mainstream assimilationist thinking.

Based on findings from several international surveys concerning work environment and job attitudes, Sengoku discusses and analyzes the differences in and cultural bases of the work ethics of Japan, England, and the United States. In his comparisons of different national work settings and of different generations of Japanese workers, Sengoku probes the anatomy of a significant change that is taking place in Japan today--the erosion of traditional values among the new generation of Japanese workers to the point that American youth may actually be more work-oriented now than their Japanese counterparts.

The 'Indian Techie' has become a global icon, taking its place alongside McDonalds and MTV as one of the key symbols of contemporary globalization. India and the IT Revolution explores the contemporary emergence of cosmopolitan, high-tech India as marking the arrival of a truly global cyberculture. It argues against the notion that globalization is a process of 'Westernization', which radiates out unilaterally from the core, imposing itself upon a passive, backward periphery. Instead, it conceives of global culture as a dynamic, innovative network, which proceeds primarily from its edges.

The changing nature of waged work in contemporary advanced industrial nations is one of the most significant aspects of political and economic debate. It is also the subject of intense debate among observers of gender. "Capital Culture" explores these changes focusing particularly on the gender relations between the men and women who work in the financial services sector. The multiple ways in which masculinities and femininities are constructed is revealed through the analysis of interviews with dealers, traders, analysts and corporate financiers.

Drawing on a range of disciplinary approaches, the various ways in which gender segregation is established and maintained is explored. In fascinating detail, the everyday experiences of men and women working in a range of jobs and in different spaces, from the dealing rooms to the boardrooms, are examined. This volume is unique in focusing on men as well as women, showing that for men too there are multiple ways of doing gender at work. For these men and women the places and spaces in which they work affect as well as reflect acceptable ways of doing gender.

"Capital Culture" is essential reading for upper-level students and above of Sociology, Geography, Social Policy, Anthropology and Management Studies.

This volume presents five studies on key dimensions of union-management relations. Topics examined include union representation, financial consequences of unionism, wage determination, workplace innovation and conflict resolution in unionized enterprises in North America. In addition, the volume features four papers that examine university degree programmes in human resource management and industrial relations and, in particular, the extent to which the programmes provide students with the skills and competencies currently in demand by employers.

Moving beyond polemical debates on globalization, this study considers complex intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and class within the field of globalized labor. As a significant contribution to the on-going debate on the role of neoliberal states in reproducing gender-race-class inequality in the global political economy, the volume examines the aggressive implementation of neoliberal policies of globalization in the Philippines, and how labor export has become a contradictory feature of the country's international political economy while being contested from below. Lindio-McGovern presents theoretical and ethnographic insights from observational and interview data gathered during fieldwork in various global cities-Hong Kong, Taipei, Rome, Vancouver, Chicago and Metro-Manila. The result is a compelling weave of theory and experience of exploitation and resistance, an important development in discourses and literature on globalization and social movements seeking to influence regimes that exploit migrant women as cheap labor to sustain gendered global capitalism. Globalization, Labor Export and Resistance: A Study of Filipino Migrant Domestic Workers in Global Cities, is an invaluable resource for scholars, researchers, policy makers, non-governmental organizations, community organizers, students of globalization, trade and labor politics. It will be useful in the fields of women/gender studies, labor studies, transnational social movements, political economy, development, international migration, international studies, international fieldwork and qualitative/feminist research.

The complexion of labour migration in the European Union (EU) has altered in recent years. Not only has there been a shift in the length of time labour migrants spend abroad, but the nature, scale and direction of the migration flows have also changed dramatically. The enlargements of the EU in 2004 and 2007 were influential in this respect. A growing economy and large wage gaps encouraged a large stream of workers to leave the new Member States for the old. The EU's open internal borders made it easy for them to return home or to move on to another Member State. This publication considers what this means for the future of labour migration and how policy should address this issue.

Hardbound. This volume contains in-depth or comparative case studies of specific occupations in America and other countries. The special emphasis of this collection is upon unusual occupations and unusually organized occupations. Through the focus on the unusual, our volume brings into focus the usual taken-for-grantedness of the occupational world, which is typically seen only from the focus on prestigious professions. Included are analyses of tattoo artists, exotic dancers, sex workers, correctional officers, catholic liturgists, marginalized computer workers, university professors in foreign military extension programs, product protectors, traveling nurses and clerical temporary workers. The audience for this book includes university students and faculty.

Many older people, indeed the majority, have many years of relatively good health after the usual retirement age. Contrary to widely accepted stereotypes, evidence indicates that those who wish to use their skills and abilities for productive contributions may encounter significant barriers.

Bass, Caro, and Chen and the experts who contributed to the volume provide an original reassessment of the current options available to older people. The authors argue that polices, practices, and societal messages help determine what choices are realistically open to older individuals. The attitudes and policies of family, workplace, and government as well as those of educational and religious institutions all contribute to defining what opportunities really are available for older people. The authors show, too, that considerations of gender and ethnicity are powerful in their impact on what those in the later years of life may or may not do. Although leisure is attractive to many in their elder years, the authors stress that it is but one of the number of choices that should be available. Employment, volunteering, and other new productive roles should not be denied to those who want to continue them and who, in the process, enrich their own and society's well-being. The authors provide authoritative analysis and new perspectives on aging.

As paid work becomes increasingly central in women's lives, the history of their labor struggles assumes more and more importance. This volume represents the best of the new feminist scholarship in twentieth-century U.S. women's labor history. Fourteen original essays illuminate the complex relationship between gender, consciousness and working-class activism, and deepen historical understanding of the contradictory legacy of trade unionism for women workers. The contributors take up a wide range of specific subjects, and write from diverse theoretical perspectives. Some of the essays are case studies of women's participation in individual unions, organizing efforts, or strikes; others examine broader themes in women's labor history, focusing on a specific time period; and still others explore the situation of particular categories of women workers over a longer time span. This collection extends the scope of current research and interpretation in women's labor history, both conceptually and in terms of periodization - emphasis is placed on the post-World War I period where the literature is sparse. This book will be valuable for scholars, students and general readers alike.

Britain's high street revolution has made retailing one of the most important and dynamic sectorsof the British economy in the last twenty years. It has had an irreversible impact on our towns and cities and, for many people, transformed shopping from an unattractive domestic chore to a pleasurable 'leisure 'experience', offering consumers an everchanging array of 'disposable dreams'. The resulting 'retail culture' is everywhere - it has colonised huge areas of our social life outside the traditional high street, from sporting venues to arts centres, from railway termini to museums. Many see it as the epitome of Thatcher's Britain, breeding acquisitive individualism and destroying our traditional manufacturing base. Others see it as a potential saviour of an ailing economy. Yet to date there has been no thorough analysis of this all-pervasive phenomenon, from its economic roots to its profound social effects. In Consuming Passion, Carl Gardner and Julie Sheppard have written the first overall study of the 'retail revolution' - a controversial and hard-hitting look at where retailing has come from, what it has achieved and where it is going. Key issues such as the role of design, the growth of the supermarket and shopping centre and the poor conditions of retail employment are all minutely examined. The book also discusses the very real pleasures that consumers gain from today's enhanced shopping experience. The authors take an iconoclastic look at some of the powerful myths that have sprung up around retail: 'the death of the high street' scenario; the central role of credit; retailing as a major creator of employment; and the imminent possibility of 'retail saturation'. A fascinating book for everyone who likes shopping - and even those who hate it. First published 1989.

Legislative and institutional affirmative and positive action policies, intended to increase accessibility and the participation of historically disadvantaged groups in employment and education, have been with us for some time, particularly in Anglo Saxon countries. One of the major issues they are intended to address is gender inequality. Proponents of these policies have hailed quota initiatives as a key to promoting equal opportunities and reducing discrimination. At the same time, affirmative action policies and processes have been challenged in courts and have caused controversy in educational establishments, highlighting the fact that these practices can have negative consequences. Exploring the application of quotas and affirmative action at an institutional or organizational level from a variety of different perspectives, the contributions in Diversity Quotas, Diverse Perspectives provide an understanding of the complexity and controversial nature of policies and actions in different countries. Even within Europe, implementation has varied widely from country to country. For example, while most European countries have employment quotas for people with disabilities, there is little consistency among the European Union's member states when it comes to quotas and other policies relating to ethnic minorities in employment and educational settings. Focussing here particularly on gender-related initiatives, but raising questions pertinent to other aspects of diversity, the contributions from international researchers investigate variances between and differing justifications for policies. The book offers a global perspective on the subject and expands the discussion of it beyond Anglo-Saxon contexts.

Changes in the philosophy of planning and the political influences behind it have led to an increasingly ambivalent approach to retail and commercial matters and a lack of clear goals and objectives as to what both central government and the local authorities should be concerned with. At the same time, changes within the distribution industry have brought new pressures to bear upon the environment which the conventional planning process seems ill-equipped to accommodate. This book, by an established leading authority, takes stock of the new problems to be confronted and provides the rudiments of an alternative planning approach to dealing with them. It begins by examining the growth of office blocks and shopping centres, and goes on to analyse and criticise the existing planning processes, suggesting alternative procedures. It looks at the dual needs of development on the one hand and renovation and redevelopment on the other and discusses how these should be dealt with in the future. More specific problems are also examined: the impact created by new shopping schemes, the decline of small shops and related activities, the conflict over transport demands and provisions and the special physical needs of particular urban and rural environments. Throughout, the argument is supported by detailed examples of particular developments. Originally published 1984.

The modern family is under strain. What we crave most from our families is intimacy, warmth and self-fulfilment but we often find this difficult to achieve. We hold onto these expectations of our families even in the face of contradictory experiences, so the family sustains a double life. The authors explore the gap between our values, expectations and yearnings, and our experiences of everyday family life. Family ritual, political rhetoric, advertising images and television family sitcoms are all windows onto what we want and expect - our myths of the family. Yet our aspirations for intimacy and self-fulfilment are frustrated by unacknowledged inequalities between men and women, and parents and children. The inequalities have their origins in the division of domestic labour and in labour markets that disregard family responsibilities. The Double Life Of The Family argues that our expectations of family life are more powerful than is usually believed and have enormous influence on both the way governments structure social policy and on the decisions made by ordinary people.

This book explores the gender issues associated with international migration in dual career households. Adopting a feminist approach, the author links research in economics, sociology, management and business and human geography to explore post-industrial managerial and professional careers. Particular emphasis is placed on the way in which social mobility and spatial mobility are entwined. The author explores the location and mobility decisions of dual career households, examining their personal and household biographies as well as published statistics. Of essential interest to scholars of human geography, sociology and gender studies, this book will also interest those working in organizational, migration and urban studies.

This book examines the way in which professional work - specifically accountancy - has been affected by the changes within the global economy over the last twenty years. It examines the commercialisation of accountancy, finding it directly related to the shift by capital away from the consensus it had entered into with labour during the post-war boom. The book argues that this transformation polarised the class structure of the advanced economies and seeks to explain the impact this transformation has had on the socialisation and promotional processes currently experienced by one group of professionals who have benefited from this change. In doing so, it puts forward a coherent explanation for the loss of auditor independnece and hence to the increase in auditing failures. The book also argues that what accountancy has experienced may increasingly emerge in other professions including medicine, law and teaching, as governments seek to expose them to market forces.

This volume deals with issues of widespread interest including, the origins of investor rights in different markets, the political, legal and economic conditions that determine levels of shareholder participation, and the implications of variation in investor rights.

This book explores the transformation of employment relations, the rise of the worker protest and the reform of trade union practice to ask how successfully the state-socialist trade unions have adapted to their new role of representing the rights and interests of workers.

This book offers fresh insights into how companies can engage with, and make use of, the modern metropolis. Based on actor-network theory and the resource-based view of the firm, it demonstrates how the contemporary city can be seen - and used - as a resource for corporate innovation. The main argument is that companies have to build what the author calls "urban innovation networks." After a theory-based outline of such networks, the author demonstrates the extent to which different institutional players - companies such as Audi, Ikea and Siemens, but also arts institutions like the Haus der Kunst in Munich - are already working to create them. The book combines management thinking with urban theory and the sociology of networks to create a unique blend of different views of capitalism and space, offering a new perspective on both the modern metropolis and globally operating companies active within our distinctly urban culture.

With the onset of a more conservative political climate in the 1980s, social and especially labour history saw a decline in the popularity that they had enjoyed throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This led to much debate on its future and function within the historical discipline as a whole. Some critics declared it dead altogether. Others have proposed a change of direction and a more or less exclusive focus on images and texts. The most constructive proposals have suggested that labour history in the past concentrated too much on class and that other identities of working people should be taken into account to a larger extent than they had been previously, such as gender, religion, and ethnicity. Although class as a social category is still as valid as it has been before, the questions now to be asked are to what extent non-class identities shape working people's lives and mentalities and how these are linked with the class system. In this volume some of the leading European historians of labour and the working classes address these questions. Two non-European scholars comment on their findings from an Indian, resp. American, point of view. The volume is rounded off by a most useful bibliography of recent studies in European labour history, class, gender, religion, and ethnicity.