Identity in the Age of the New Economy is a multi-faceted view of contemporary employment and identity that questions a number of the myths related to the so-called new economy, knowledge society or network society. It argues that one of the most striking things about much contemporary theorizing on work and identity is the epochalist terms in which it is framed: changing forms of identity and subjectivity are assumed to be consequences of a shift to an entirely new economic, social and cultural era, signalled by concepts such as postmodernity, risk society, network society or new economy. The book deviates from the epochalist claim and follows the path of recent years' sociological/social-psychological analyses of identities, presenting detailed empirical studies of relational identities in scattered and temporary work practices. The authors demonstrate how identities are endogenous variables, focus on highly educated contingent employees and direct the analyses from the politics of interests to the politics of identities. Exploring the nexus between identity and the organization of work life, this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary book will be of great interest to both academics and practitioners in the fields of human resource management, industrial relations and psychology. It will also appeal to those with an interest in organization theory.

Fifteen years ago, software was primarily developed either within an organizational field of voluntary open source software communities, infused with an institutional logic of technology, or, within an organizational field of commercial companies, infused with an institutional logic of capitalism. Within the organizational field of open source software, participants perceived software as a technical device, and they looked upon themselves as programmers and users modifying and sharing codes, making them available to everyone for free. Within the field of commercial companies, managers and employees perceived software as a commodity that could be bought and sold, and the development of the software was shrouded in secrecy and wrapped in copyrights and licenses. By the end of the millennium, people from the two organizational fields began to interact with each other and, today, commercial companies are involved in activities within open source software communities in different ways. "How did people start to co-operate with the 'enemy' on software development?" is the leading question in this book. The answers are based on in-depth studies of three empirical cases showing different variations of co-operations and different ways and degrees of successful co-operation. In all three cases, the development has raised serious identity questions like: Who am I? Who are my friends and enemies? And what is the right thing for me to do in the future? The answers have not been found by just following a logic of consequentiality, where people know who they are and how to pursue their interests. Answering these questions, by contrast, has been a highly ambiguous process for many people within both fields. The process has been filled with uncertainty and emotions, and it has in varying degrees involved institutional work and interactions between many and different types of institutional actors: institutional entrepreneurs, institutional audiences and institutional leaders. This book is for everyone interested in software development and/or open innovation processes and will be of particular interest for organizational scholars, as it draws heavily on sociological concepts like institutional logics, institutional work, and institutional actors.

The March 2006 issue of American Behavioral Scientist, entitled Institutions in the Making: Identity, Power and the Emergence of New Organizational Forms features new insights on institutional change and theory, exploring, collectively and individually, how new institutions first emerge within and among organizations. Based on a workshop entitled "New Public and Private Models of Management: Sensemaking and Institutions" in Skagen, Denmark in Summer 2005, the 11 articles look at key organizational trends in institutional change, including corporate governance, social responsibility, and new work roles.

The first two articles deal with mediating the micro-macro divide in institutional theory. Pedersen and Dobbin offer insights into the four types of processes through which practices and ideas from the wider organizational field become distinct organizational cultures. Hallett and Ventresca reexamine Gouldner's Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy and the "coupling" processes that were considered key mechanisms in the emergence of new institutional forms.

Campbell and Boxenbaum focus on the rise of corporate social responsibility. Campbell explores the political and economic motives that underlie the current definition of corporate social responsibility, and raises the question of why corporations ever act in socially responsible ways. Boxenbaum shows how a practice from one place can be adapted into a different environment by going through the processes of individual preferences, strategic reframing, and local grounding.

The next three articles target corporate governance in diverse arenas such as the European defense industry and the American thrift industry. Fligstein and Enrione, Mazza, and Zerboni review how decision-makers negotiate new institutional models with interested groups, and how decision-makers may end up creating institutions that are not anything like what they originally envisioned. Haveman and Rao investigate how change in the form of governance occurred over time and circumstance.

Patriotta and Lanzara, Meyer and Hammerschmid, and Westenholz each consider how work roles and identities become institutionalized and how they affect organizations. Drawing on wide-ranging examples from an automotive factory, public administrators in Austria, and IT workers, the last three articles attempt to account for the global and local dynamics that shape worker identities and roles.

Together these articles suggest a number of promising research avenues for those interested in how new organizational elements, ideas, and practices come about and evolve. This issue should be in the library of every forward-thinking manager, organizational behaviorist, industrial and organizational sociologist, and business school professors and students.