Ursula Apitzsch – författare

Moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, this Handbook provides a comprehensive account of the relations between different forms of work, exploitation, class configuration and worker resistance. With insights from global experts across the social sciences, it examines changes in technology, geographies of production, and the dynamics of the global capitalist political economy to map modern configurations of work. Using ongoing empirical qualitative research, contributors explore key issues such as capital accumulation, migration, digital work, trade unionism and reproductive labour. There is a particular focus on perspectives from the Global South, with in-depth analyses of class and work in countries and regional economic blocs used to explore the dynamics between the local and the global.

Providing an authoritative overview of traditional and current debates, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students and researchers of political economy, industrial relations and the sociology of work, critical management studies, social movement studies, and development.

This book uses a range of interpretive approaches to reveal the dynamics of service users'' and professionals'' individual experiences and life-worlds. From their research the contributors show how biographical methods can improve theoretical understanding of professional practice, as well as enrich the learning and development of professionals, and promote more meaningful and creative practitioner - service user relationships.

The book:

· reviews applications of biographical methods in both policy and practice in a range of professional contexts, from health and social care to education and employment;

· explores the impact of social change in three main arenas - transformation from Eastern to Western types of society in Europe, major shifts in social and welfare principles, experiences of immigration and of new cultural diversities - on professional practice;

· critically evaluates subjective and reflexive processes in interactions between researchers, practitioners and users of services;

· considers the institutional arrangements and cultural contexts which support effective and sensitive interventions;

· draws on actual projects and tracks reflection, progress and outcomes.

With contributions from leading international experts, it provides a valuable comparative perspective. Researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, postgraduate students, teachers and trainers will find this book a stimulating read.