Labour Markets and Identity on the Post-Industrial Assembly Line

Reviews / Votes

'In this outstanding, theoretically rich workplace ethnography Anthony Lloyd provides important empirical data that supports the growing realisation that - despite its soft focus, anti-authoritarian demeanour - neoliberal capitalism now penetrates to the very core of the postmodern subject. Everyone interested in the painful reality of postmodern labour markets must read this book.' Simon Winlow, Teesside University, UK 'Anthony Lloyd's new book, Labour Markets and Identity on the Post-industrial Assembly Line, tackles the call center from the perspective of an ethnographer, probing identity construction from an unabashedly Marxist theoretical position. Clear, engaging, and intellectually provocative, Labour Markets offers much for the labor educator. A multifaceted work, it lends itself to use in a range of contexts. ... The analysis is thorough and the conclusions depressing. Lloyd gives us hope by suggesting that understanding the processes at work-especially the habitus experienced by low-wage workers in the neoliberal economy-is a vital prerequisite to building class solidarity. This is a compelling argument, reinforced by a thoroughly informative read.' Labor Studies Journal 'Lloyd's study offers a vivid portrait of deindustrialization from within. ... The book is written in a refreshingly colloquial style. ... Lloyd's presentation of his experience and his portraits of his colleagues at the call centre give us fresh insights into the rhythms and culture of this new workplace, as well as an unnerving sense of being there with him, of living through it with him.' Labour/Le Travail