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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Work & labour
This text explores the impact of race and racism in different occupational spheres within the labor market. It reexamines a number of central assumptions about segregation within the labor market and applies the concept of social closure to the analysis of the position of ethnic minority workers within the labor market. Key themes in the book include the effectiveness of equal opportunity and affirmative action policies and the extent to which employment practice has been significantly altered.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment and is renowned for being one of the most unequal societies in the world. In this context, training and education play critical roles in helping young people escape poverty and unemployment. Post-school Education offers insights about the way in which young people in South Africa navigate their way through a host of post-school training and education options. The topics range from access to, and labour market transitions from, vocational education, adult education, universities, and workplace-based training. The individual chapters offer up-to-date analyses, identify some of the challenges that young people face when accessing training and education and also point to gaps between education and the labour market. The contributors are all experts in their respective components but write with a holistic view of the post-school education system, using an unashamedly empirical lens. Post-school Education will be of interest to all researchers and policymakers concerned with the transformative role of further education and training in society.
"The Women of Azua" studies the effects of male-oriented economic development projects and export processing industries on the traditional family structure in Third World countries. Emphasizing the sexual division of labor, this study is based on field observations and a survey of women in rural communities in the Dominican Republic. The communities studied are all located near large agribusiness food-production facilities. The author studies the impact of these companies--through their employment of women--on families, attitudes, level of living, and the aspirations of the women themselves. While measuring the impact of industrial employment on women and their families, this volume also presents a culture, and its women, not yet studied by North American sociologists. This study covers a wide range of characteristics including levels of living, employment, marital status and attitudes, household division of labor, nutrition and health, childbearing, aspirations for children, etc. For each topic the author compares two representative samples of women: a community sample and a worker sample. The typical woman in the rural Dominican Republic is seen through the community sample. The worker sample displays the differences in women's lives due to their work for an export food-processing company.
The Jewish Labor Movement was a radical subculture that flourished within the trade union and political movements in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Jewish immigrant activists--socialists, communists, anarchists, and labor Zionists--adapted aspects of the traditions with which they were raised in order to express the politics of social transformation. In doing so, they created a folk ideology which reflected their dual ethnic/class identity. This book explores that folk ideology, through an analysis of interviews with participants in the Jewish Labor Movement as well as through a survey of the voluminous literature written about that movement. A synthesis of political ideology and ethnic tradition was carefully crafted by secular working-class Jewish immigrant radicals who rediscovered and reformulated elements of Jewish traditions as vehicles for political organizing. Commonly held symbols of their cultural identity--the Yiddish language, rituals such as the Passover seder, remembered narratives of the Eastern European "shtetl," and biblical imagery--served as powerful tools in forging political solidarity among fellow Jewish workers and activists within the Jewish Labor Movement.
In this sweeping narrative history from the Great Depression of the
1930s to the Great Recession of today, Caring for America rethinks
both the history of the American welfare state from the perspective
of care work and chronicles how home care workers eventually became
one of the most vibrant forces in the American labor movement.
Eileen Boris and Jennifer Klein demonstrate the ways in which law
and social policy made home care a low-waged job that was
stigmatized as welfare and relegated to the bottom of the medical
hierarchy.
The median age of workers in the United States will reach 36 by the year 2000. The number of workers between the ages of 35 and 47 will increase by 38 percent, while those aged 48 to 53 will grow by a staggering 67 percent. This middle aging of the work force brings with it unique employee issues and personal mid-life stresses that affect work performance. Shirley A. Waskel suggests that as the number of workers aged 35 to 55 increases, human resource managers will have to deal increasingly with problems that once applied only to a minority. Her book addresses the need to retain mid-life workers, see them as assets, and provide avenues for them to enhance their own sense of self. Mid-life as a developmental stage has come into its own in the past fifteen years. Waskel presents the mid-life individual as an adult who has brought along the behaviors, coping mechanisms, sense of self, and problems developed from infancy to the present day. Her study explains the problems that mid-life employees can bring to the workplace, the need to recognize how the worker produces, and the recognition that mid-life is a time when people begin to deal more intensely with issues left over from childhood. These childhood issues, added to workplace problems such as age, sex and race discrimination, sexual harassment, ineffective job placement, and lack of appreciation for the skills and expertise of the mid-life employee can all work against achieving a highly productive work force. Waskel discusses why no organization with these types of problems can expect to thrive and suggests programs (such as the Employee Assistance Program) and counseling groups as ways for human resource specialists to meet the challenge of mid-life employee difficulties. Mid-life Issues and the Workplace of the 90s is an indispensable guide for students and teachers of business, psychology, counseling, and sociology, as well as mid-life workers and human resource specialists.
The effective utilization of available resources is a pivotal factor for production levels in modern business environments. However, when resources are limited or in excess, this effects organizational success, as well as the labor market. The Handbook of Research on Unemployment and Labor Market Sustainability in the Era of Globalization is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly research on the socio-economic dynamics of unemployment and the development of new policies to assist in regulating the global labor market. Highlighting innovative approaches and relevant perspectives, such as outsourcing, trade openness, and employment protection, this publication is ideally designed for policy makers, professionals, practitioners, graduate students, and academics interested in emerging trends for labor market development.
Exploring recent contemporary debates on gender and migration, this book scrutinizes the relationship between women's work in ethnic economies and social integration, arguing that women in Britain zigzag their way to social integration.
This book examines recent developments in Brazilian labour relations. Analysing the current state of labour relations in Brazil, the author shows how the proposals advanced by the new unionism have put strong pressure on the corporate system still legally enforced and have successfully developed a new political culture he terms the 'political culture of active citizenship'.
This title explores understandings and experiences of 'dirty work' - tasks or occupations that are seen as disgusting and degrading. It complicates the 'clean/dirty' divide in the context of organisations and work and illustrates some of the complex ways in which dirty work identities are managed.
This book is the first ever collection of scholarly essays on the history of the Irish working class. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the involvement of Irish workers in political life and movements between 1830 and 1945. Fourteen leading Irish and international historians and political scientists trace the politicization of Irish workers during a period of considerable social and political turmoil. The contributions include both surveys covering the entire period and case studies that provide new perspectives on crucial historical movements and moments. This volume is a milestone in Irish labour and political historiography and an important contribution to the international literature on politics and the working class.
While recent Labour and coalition governments have insisted that many unemployed people prefer state benefits to a job, and have tightened the rules attached to claiming unemployment benefits, mainstream academic research repeatedly concludes that only a tiny minority of unemployed benefit claimants are not strongly committed to employment. Andrew Dunn argues that the discrepancy can be explained by UK social policy academia leaving important questions unanswered. Dunn presents findings from four empirical studies which, in contrast to earlier research, focused on unemployed people's attitudes towards unattractive jobs and included interviews with people in welfare-to-work organisations. All four studies' findings were consistent with the view that many unemployed benefit claimants prefer living on benefits to undertaking jobs which would increase their income, but which they find unattractive. Thus, the studies gave support to politicians' view about the need to tighten benefit rules.
In recent years labor relations have altered significantly and new and more serious forms of labor marginalization and control have emerged. This book looks at labor in agriculture and food in a global era by studying salient characteristics of the conditions and use of labor in global agri-food. Written by experienced and also emerging scholars, the chapters present a wealth of empirical data and robust theorizations that allow readers to grasp the complexity of this topic. The volume stresses the new and emerging dimensions of labor and its continuous importance under globalization. Relevant to those studying the use and position of labor in neoliberal globalization, topics addressed include: Globalization and change in labor relations, mobility of agricultural labor, social upgrading, labor relations and resistance in the value chain.
This book analyses how public toilets were provided by the government and local business in Hong Kong between the 1860s and 1930s through a process that was embedded in class and racial politics. Addressing public toilet provision from a political economy perspective, it focuses on the interplay of the cross-border night soil business between Hong Kong and China's silk producing area; the silk market between China and Colonial powers; the Hong Kong land market between the colonial government and Chinese business; and how these factors jointly produced a network of toilets in the colony. As the book shows, the commercial viability of toilets created multiple logics and a new moral geography; further, exploring the topic can help us gain a better understanding of how urban governance functioned in colonies and how it intertwined with economic contingencies within a global economic system. The intended readership includes academics and members of the general public with an interest in colonialism, public infrastructures, public health, government-business relations, and urban governance.
During the twentieth century arrangements governing love, work, and their routinization in households and employment underwent a transformation. During this period women gained employment opportunities. This reduced sex differentiation, but did not equalize the roles or power of men and women. The goal of this book is to describe the trends and patterns that remain constant amidst the change, and to provide an integrated framework for understanding them. The authors focus on a three-tier level of integration that is not available in other studies of this kind. First, they combine the topics of households and employment, showing similarities and causal links between household and employment arrangements. Second, a conceptual framework is provided that gives attention to both individuals' choices and to the structural constraints that limit available options. Finally, an integration of economic and sociological views of employment, demographic behavior, and other household behavior is examined. By using both individual and structural views, Paula England and George Farkas provide an overview of this coupling. This work is unique in that it draws from both economics and sociology and from demographers in both disciplines. "Households, Employment, and Gender" is an analytic synthesis for scholars and an invaluable sourcebook for classes on gender, labor, the family, social demography, economics, and economic sociology.
Honours fulfil one of the most fundamental desires of human beings, namely, to be recognised and held in esteem by others. There are thousands of awards in all areas of society: the state, arts and media, sports, religion, the voluntary sector, academia, and business. Awards are well visible, can raise the recipients' intrinsic motivation and creativity, and establish a bond of loyalty to the giver. They have distinct advantages over money and other rewards. Presenting empirical evidence using modern statistical techniques Honours versus Money argues that awards can significantly raise performance in different contexts even if they are purely symbolic, recommending how this can be used in practice. It makes the case for reorienting our focus- away from the monetary or material dimensions of work and private life, and towards the symbolic dimensions to celebrate and shine a light on merit and achievement. Honours versus Money discusses award bestowals in their different forms and facets, including as signals and as components of organisations' human resource strategies. It opens our perspective for motivational strategies beyond money, while also outlining their potential pitfalls.
The growth of the services sector in developing countries and their increased participation in trade in services have far-reaching implications for promotion of employment and income and management of international migration. The book brings out these implications in the context of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and explains how trade-related temporary movements of persons can be a partial substitute for longer-term migration, serving the interests of both developed and developing countries in a more efficient global economy.
This text documents the changing position of women in Malaysia. It is divided in three sections, each of which correspond to a different theme. The first section focuses on the role of the state in agricultural modernization and its impact on rural women and the gender division of labour; the second explores the relationship of technological innovation and changing employment patterns in the industrial and digital economy. The final section attempts to link feminist theory and practice as articulated in the nascent Malaysian women's movement, and discusses the relevance of feminist theories in explaining the experiences of women in the developing world. The book is aimed at departments of women's studies, Asian studies, development studies; politics (courses on class relations, labour studies); sociology (courses on gender and labour); and some general interest.
Since the 1980s, neoliberalism has had a major impact on social life and, in turn, research in the social sciences. Emerging from the crisis of the Keynesian welfare state, neoliberalism describes a social transformation that has impacted relationships between citizens and the state, consumers and the market, and individuals and groups. Neoliberal Contentions offers original essays that explore neoliberalism in its various guises. It includes chapters on economic policy and restructuring, resource extraction, multiculturalism and equality, migration and citizenship, health reform, housing policy, and 2SLGBTQ communities. Drawing on the work of influential Canadian political economist Janine Brodie, the contributors use Brodie's scholarship as a springboard for their own distinct analyses of pressing political and social issues. Acknowledging neoliberalism's crises, failures, and contradictions, this collection contends with neoliberalism by "diagnosing the present," situating the phenomenon within a broader historical and political-economic context and observing instances in which neoliberal rationality is reinforced as well as resisted.
This volume brings together researchers from a diverse array of academic disciplines - including sociology, organization theory, strategy and psychology - to address the question of what organizations can do to better recognize novel ideas and support their proponents in implementing those ideas. The contributors draw from different theoretical perspectives and empirical papers use both qualitative and/or quantitative methods in their analysis. All contributions speak to a common set of phenomena at the intersection of creativity, innovation, and social evaluation in a variety of cultural fields. In the first section of the volume - searching for novelty - the papers discuss different conceptualizations of novelty and examine the conditions that foster the creation of new ideas or product offerings. In the second section of the volume - seeing novelty - the papers discuss how novelty is evaluated and recognized both within and outside organizations. Papers in the third and final section - sustaining novelty - explore how these evaluations affect the support that novelty receives in its journey to gain legitimacy. Setting an agenda for a more holistic theory on the emergence, evaluation, and legitimation of novelty, this volume showcases how novelty generation, recognition, and legitimation correspond to distinct phases of the journey of novelty, from the moment it makes its appearance in the world to the moment it takes root and propagates.
This book integrates the findings of group research emphasizing "Madness of the Crowd" versus collective intelligence that highlights "Wisdom of the Crowd." Thus it provides an overview of psychological research on group processes and collective intelligence, analyzing cognitive, social, and structural factors. Chapters address applications of this research to contexts such as organizations and online behavior, and offer guidelines and hands-on demonstrations of psychological principles. The book is highly relevant to students and instructors in personality and social psychology.
This book analyses the management of human resources in Chinese industry, covering the period from 1949 to present, particularly focusing on the period of economic reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s. For four decades Chinese workers have enjoyed job security under the 'iron rice-bowl' employment system. This arrangement is now under threat from the recent labour reforms and the emergence of a nascent labour market. The study looks in detail at these developments in the North-Eastern cities, China's industrial heartland.
The main thrust of this book is to address a number of manpower issues vital to the development of the Persian Gulf region. By taking a long-run perspective, the study creates a framework for the development of future manpower policies in the key countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Iran, and Iraq. The past policies in the region of growth-related investment, industrialization, and economic development should not be given priority over development-related human resource issues. Furthermore, the pressing need to accommodate demands for more highly skilled national manpower should not occur at the neglect of the region's culture and values.
Underemployment - when people are employed in some way that is insufficient, such as being overqualified or working part-time when one desires full-time employment - is a challenge faced by all industrialized nations and their organizations and individuals. Just like unemployment, some level of underemployment exists even in the best of times, but it becomes more pervasive when the job market is weak. Given the current economic climate in North America and abroad, researchers and scholars in various disciplines (psychology, business, sociology, economics) are becoming more interested in investigating the effects of underemployment and identifying possible practical solutions. Underemployment synthesizes the current understanding of the phenomenon by bringing together scholars with diverse perspectives and expertise with the aim of informing and guiding the next generation of underemployment research.
This open access book addresses the important and neglected question of older workers who are excluded from the labour market. It challenges post-capitalist discourses of active ageing with a focus on restrictive end-of-career and retirement measures. The book demonstrates how a paradigm shift is generating real processes of exclusion for important sectors of the population. By providing strong empirical evidence from different contexts, the impact of different life course trajectories on the risks and the opportunities at the end of career are demonstrated. The organisation of workplace and institutional frameworks which reinforce inequalities are also presented. As such the book is an essential reading for students, academics and policy makers who seek to understand how exclusion processes operate to the disadvantage of older workers in the labour market. |
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