Changing Contours of Work
Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy
Published on 28. November 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-4129-1744-5 (ISBN)
Description
The latter part of the 20th century witnessed remarkable transformations in the workplace, including the emergence of new organizational designs, new technologies, new markets, new workers, and the globalization of production. Changing Contours of Work examines the effects that these (and other) changes have had on workers' lives on and off the job and the ability to make ends meet. Using a historical lens, this book reconsiders the notion of a new economy revealing important changes that have transpired, but also enduring practices that developed in the old economy that continue to shape the opportunity divides that exist today. By framing the development of jobs and opportunity in an international comparative perspective, Sweet and Meiksins show the roads taken, and those not taken, and the impact these choices have had on the structure opportunity in American society. Their analysis reveals various opportunity chasms, and the continued importance of class, gender, race, nationality in the shaping life chances. As workers struggle to make a living, they do so in an economy being built on risk and overwork.The recommendation offered in this book of value to consumers, activist groups, employers, and governments - offers clear guidance on the strategies of making the new economy work for all.
Reviews / Votes
"Changing Contours of Work, by Sweet and Meiksins, represents a truly excellent and synthetic sociological guide for understanding the historical and contemporary interplay of work, inequality, and human dignity. Moving beyond simplistic conceptions of "old" versus "new" economy, the authors demonstrate, through careful aggregate analyses and carefully selected anecdotes, the ways in which old and new work forms continue to intersect, how various status groups continue to be differentially impacted, and why so many workers in the current era face job insecurity, overwork, and maltreatment. The well-articulated position of the authors regarding sorely needed challenges to these trends, and where such challenges might arise, are equally important and deserving of attention from social scientists, students, and policymakers alike" - Vincent J. Roscigno, Professor at Ohio State University and author of The Voice of Southern Labor (U Minn Press) and The Face of Discrimination: How Race and Gender Impact Work and Home Lives (Rowman & Littlefield). -- Vincent J. Roscigno 20071029 "Changing Contours challenges the widespread notion of postindustrial, offers a careful analysis of demographics as they intersect a changing labor market, and devotes an entire chapter to a broad discussion of working time. This is a book that students will find informative, and possibly unsettling, but in the end they'll find hope in the possibilities for agency and change" - Cynthia Negrey, University of Louisville -- Cynthia Negrey 20071029 "This volume provides a solid, concise overview of the current state of work, mostly based on US patterns but with some comparative information." -- J.P. Jacobsen CHOICE 20080918 "Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy provides numerous insights into the new world of work and is a prolific source of material for class discussion, further research, and written assignments." -- Michael P. Bochenek TEACHING SOCIOLOGY 20081219More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Thousand Oaks
United States
Publishing group
SAGE Publications Inc
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4129-1744-5 (9781412917445)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Peter Meiksins is a Professor of Sociology at Cleveland State University. He is the author of many articles on the sociology of work, including studies of the work experiences of engineers and part-time work in professional technical occupations and essays on labor process theory, professional work in comparative perspective, and contemporary labor relations. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Work and Occupations, Theory and Society, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Work, Employment and Society, and Sociological Quarterly. He is the author of Putting Work in Its Place: A Quiet Revolution (with Peter Whalley) and of Engineering Labour: Technical Workers in Comparative Perspective (with Chris Smith); he is co-editor of Rethinking the Labor Process (with Mark Wardell and Tom Steiger) and Rising From the Ashes: Labor in the Age of Global Capitalism (with Ellen Wood and Michael Yates). In 1996, together with Peter Whalley, he received a major grant from the Sloan Foundation to study "Flexible Work for Technical Professionals." His current research, again with Peter Whalley, concerns the sociology of design work (a study of the work of graphic designers, industrial designers and interior designers). This research has been supported by a Fund For the Advancement of the Discipline Grant from the American Sociological Foundation. Stephen Sweet is an assistant professor of sociology at Ithaca College and formerly the associate director of the Cornell Careers Institute: A Sloan Center for the Study of Working Families. He has written a number of articles on the challenges confronting working families, focusing on the issues of concern to dual career couples across the life course. His studies appeared in the a variety of publications, including the New Directions in Life Course Research, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Innovative Higher Education, The International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, Journal of College Student Development, and Community, Work, and Family. His recent books, College and Society: An Introduction to the Sociological Imagination and Data Analysis with SPSS: A First Course in Applied Statistics (now in its second edition), have been extensively adopted in sociology courses. In 2001 Dr. Sweet was awarded a Sloan Officers Grant to study the effects of corporate downsizing on dual earner couples. He is currently completing two book projects, The Handbook of Work and Family (with co-authors Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes and Ellen Ernst Kossek) which will be published in 2005 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and Managing Careers in the New Risk Economy, written in collaboration with his co-investigator Phyllis Moen.
Content
Chapter 1: Mapping the Contours of Work Scenes from the New Economy Culture and Work Structure and Work Agency and Careers Conclusion Chapter 2: How New is the New Economy? The Old in the New Class Chasms in the New Economy Conclusion Chapter 3: Gender Chasms in the New Economy When Did Home Become Non-Work? Women's Participation in the Paid Labor Force in America Gender Inequalities in Compensation Socialization, Career Selection, and Career Paths Interpersonal Discrimination in the Workplace Structural Dimensions of Gender Discrimination Strategies to Bridge the Care Gaps: International Comparisons Conclusion Chapter 4: Race, Ethnicity, and Work: Legacies of the Past and Problems in the Present Histories of Race, Ethnicity, and Work The Magnitude of Racial Inequality in the New Economy Intergenerational Transmission of Resources Geographic Distribution of Race and Work Opportunity Race and Discrimination Race, Ethnicity, and Work: Social Policy Conclusion Chapter 5: Whose Jobs Are Secure? Risk and Work: Historical and Comparative Views How Insecure are Workers in the New Economy? The Costs of Job Loss and Insecurity Responding to Insecurity: Old and New Careers Conclusion Chapter 6: A Fair Day's Work? The Intensity and Scheduling of Jobs in the New Economy Time, Intensity, and Work How Long Are We Working? Comparative Frameworks Working Long, Working Hard Why Are Americans Working So Much? Nonstandard Schedules: Jobs in a 24/7 Economy How Americans Deal with Overwork Conclusion Chapter 7: Reshaping the Contours of the New Economy Opportunity Chasms The Agents of Change Conclusion