Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Work, Professions and Organisations – serie

Positioned within the discourse of neoliberalism and precarious work, this book draws on Guy Standing’s notion of "the precariat" in an examination of the role of recruiting individuals as the key actors in labour recruitment and management practices that produce precarious work conditions. Based on extensive empirical work on migrant construction workers and their recruiters in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, it explores the ways in which exploitative employment relationships contribute to various pressures and insecurities amongst migrant workers and limit the scope for labour protection. Offering new insights into the field of labour migration by unpacking the interconnections between rural-urban labour migration, recruitment and precarious employment, The Construction Precariat conceptualises the domination of recruiters as producing "hyper-individualised employment", and sheds light on the manner in which this relationship of domination and dependence contributes heavily both to the conditions of precariousness and to the control and exploitation of migrant workers.

This book offers a sociological account of the process by which companies instituted and continue to institute outsourcing in their organization. Drawing on qualitative data, it examines the ways in which internal outsourcing in the information technologies and human resources professions negatively affects workers, their work conditions, and working relationships. With attention to the deleterious influence of outsourcing on relationships and the strong tendency of market organisations to produce social conflict in interactions – itself a considerable ‘transaction cost’ – the author challenges both the ideology that markets, rather than hierarchies, produce more efficient and less costly economic outcomes for companies, and the idea that outsourcing generates benefits for professional workers in the form of greater opportunity. A demonstration of the social conflict created between employees working for two separate, proprietary companies, Working Lives and in-House Outsourcing will be of interest to scholars with interests in the sociology of work and organizations and the sociology of professions, as well as those working in the fields of business management and human resources.

This book explores the connection between British and German officer cadets’ perceptions of the past and their motivations for enlisting in the military forces in the United Kingdom and Germany. Drawing upon qualitative interviews and survey data conducted at officers’ academies in the UK and Germany, the author offers a comparative analysis using differing approaches towards history and memory in Britain and Germany, while considering the roles of individual goals and societal orientations in the decision to enlist. Employing the notion of pragmatic professionalism, which reflects the fact that occupational and institutional reasons for enlisting are not opposite points on a single scale, Professionalism, Memory and Identity examines history-orientated reasons for enlistment by shedding light on officer cadets’ values, beliefs and wider cultural understandings of the past. With attention to differences in motivation as a result of differing national backgrounds and former military training, as well as the extent to which these divergences contribute to the emergence of different types of soldiers in the two countries, this comparative, international study will appeal to scholars of sociology, politics and war studies with interests in the military profession and the role of history in contemporary Britain and Germany.

Positioned within the discourse of neoliberalism and precarious work, this book draws on Guy Standing’s notion of "the precariat" in an examination of the role of recruiting individuals as the key actors in labour recruitment and management practices that produce precarious work conditions. Based on extensive empirical work on migrant construction workers and their recruiters in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, it explores the ways in which exploitative employment relationships contribute to various pressures and insecurities amongst migrant workers and limit the scope for labour protection. Offering new insights into the field of labour migration by unpacking the interconnections between rural-urban labour migration, recruitment and precarious employment, The Construction Precariat conceptualises the domination of recruiters as producing "hyper-individualised employment", and sheds light on the manner in which this relationship of domination and dependence contributes heavily both to the conditions of precariousness and to the control and exploitation of migrant workers.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003108436, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.This book argues that the expansion of administrative activities in today’s working life is driven not only by pressure from above, but also from below. The authors examine the inner dynamics of people-processing organizations—those formally working for clients, patients, or students—to uncover the hidden attractions of doing administrative work, despite all the complaints and laments about "too many meetings" or "too much paperwork." There is something appealing to those compelled to participate in today’s constantly multiplying and expanding administration that defies popular framings of it as merely pressure from above. Hidden Attractions of Administration shows in detail the emotional attractiveness, moral conflicts, and almost magical features that administrative tasks often entail in today’s organizations, supported by ethnographic studies consisting of over 200 qualitative interviews and participant observations from ten organizational settings and contexts across Sweden. The authors also question and complement explanations in administration-related research that have previously been taken for granted, arguing that it is a simplification to attribute all aspects of the change to New Public Management and instead taking into account what the classic sociologist Georg Simmel called an Eigendynamik: a self-reinforcing tendency that, under certain circumstances, needs only a nudge in an administrative direction to get going. By applying ethnography to issues of bureaucratization and meeting cultures and by drawing on findings in emotional sociology and social anthropology, this volume contributes to both the sociology of work and the study of human service organizations and will appeal to scholars and students working across both areas.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003108436, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.This book argues that the expansion of administrative activities in today’s working life is driven not only by pressure from above, but also from below. The authors examine the inner dynamics of people-processing organizations—those formally working for clients, patients, or students—to uncover the hidden attractions of doing administrative work, despite all the complaints and laments about "too many meetings" or "too much paperwork." There is something appealing to those compelled to participate in today’s constantly multiplying and expanding administration that defies popular framings of it as merely pressure from above. Hidden Attractions of Administration shows in detail the emotional attractiveness, moral conflicts, and almost magical features that administrative tasks often entail in today’s organizations, supported by ethnographic studies consisting of over 200 qualitative interviews and participant observations from ten organizational settings and contexts across Sweden. The authors also question and complement explanations in administration-related research that have previously been taken for granted, arguing that it is a simplification to attribute all aspects of the change to New Public Management and instead taking into account what the classic sociologist Georg Simmel called an Eigendynamik: a self-reinforcing tendency that, under certain circumstances, needs only a nudge in an administrative direction to get going. By applying ethnography to issues of bureaucratization and meeting cultures and by drawing on findings in emotional sociology and social anthropology, this volume contributes to both the sociology of work and the study of human service organizations and will appeal to scholars and students working across both areas.

This volume examines the transformation of subjectivities following contemporary societal trends with regulatory and administrative authorities targeting human subjectivity with the aim to transform it. It addresses the malleability of human subjectivity through rich qualitative analyses of how different governing attempts are received by the subjects themselves. While the scholarship on governmentality has so far produced an enormously useful body of literature on the ‘how’ aspect of governing, this book suggests that it has been prone to overestimate the degree to which our subjectivities are open to change. Combining ethnographic sensitivity with more traditional governmentality perspectives allows us to explore how governing attempts ‘land’ in the terrain targeted—human subjectivity—in actual social contexts, under specific forms of governing and rationality. In doing so, the book makes a distinctive contribution to a second generation of governmentality studies. It will appeal to social scientists with interests in governance, governmentality, social policy and the sociology of work.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This volume examines the transformation of subjectivities following contemporary societal trends with regulatory and administrative authorities targeting human subjectivity with the aim to transform it. It addresses the malleability of human subjectivity through rich qualitative analyses of how different governing attempts are received by the subjects themselves. While the scholarship on governmentality has so far produced an enormously useful body of literature on the ‘how’ aspect of governing, this book suggests that it has been prone to overestimate the degree to which our subjectivities are open to change. Combining ethnographic sensitivity with more traditional governmentality perspectives allows us to explore how governing attempts ‘land’ in the terrain targeted—human subjectivity—in actual social contexts, under specific forms of governing and rationality. In doing so, the book makes a distinctive contribution to a second generation of governmentality studies. It will appeal to social scientists with interests in governance, governmentality, social policy and the sociology of work.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book examines how caseworkers are governed in today’s street-level bureaucracies. It redefines our understanding of public sector governance by highlighting the subtle, informal, and everyday forms of organizational governance that shape caseworkers’ subjectivities beyond formal policies and professional identities. Based on four distinct types of normative governance – ‘governance by discourse’, ‘governance by emotions’, ‘governance by peers’, and ‘governance by numbers, colours, and symbols’, the book shows how caseworkers are shaped as organizational staff members alongside their roles as welfare professionals and welfare state bureaucrats.Governing Street-Level Bureaucracies will be of interest to scholars and students in organizational sociology, street-level bureaucracy research, public administration, and critical management studies. It also provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to understand caseworkers’ responses to public governance and public sector reforms.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

This book examines how caseworkers are governed in today’s street-level bureaucracies. It redefines our understanding of public sector governance by highlighting the subtle, informal, and everyday forms of organizational governance that shape caseworkers’ subjectivities beyond formal policies and professional identities. Based on four distinct types of normative governance – ‘governance by discourse’, ‘governance by emotions’, ‘governance by peers’, and ‘governance by numbers, colours, and symbols’, the book shows how caseworkers are shaped as organizational staff members alongside their roles as welfare professionals and welfare state bureaucrats.Governing Street-Level Bureaucracies will be of interest to scholars and students in organizational sociology, street-level bureaucracy research, public administration, and critical management studies. It also provides valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to understand caseworkers’ responses to public governance and public sector reforms.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Workers Without Companies contributes to the debate on the future of work in a productive landscape that is now global, while ways of working diversify at an unprecedented pace.Faced with several decades of mass unemployment in Europe and the activation of self-employment—especially through intermediary platforms—this book examines the transformation of the wage system not only in traditional salaried sectors but also in self-employment, agriculture, and the field of science and knowledge production. The authors identify a common movement: the growing detachment between companies and their employees. This deep-rooted and enduring trend is reshaping the wage relationship at the core of modern societies, continuously altering and destabilising workers’ lives. Recognising this shift is essential to interrogating what work—and our lives—will become in the years ahead. The book, therefore, concludes with a proposed research agenda structured around five key axes.As such, Workers Without Companies will appeal to sociologists with interests in work and industry, employment and unemployment, organisation studies and labour relations.

Workers Without Companies contributes to the debate on the future of work in a productive landscape that is now global, while ways of working diversify at an unprecedented pace.Faced with several decades of mass unemployment in Europe and the activation of self-employment—especially through intermediary platforms—this book examines the transformation of the wage system not only in traditional salaried sectors but also in self-employment, agriculture, and the field of science and knowledge production. The authors identify a common movement: the growing detachment between companies and their employees. This deep-rooted and enduring trend is reshaping the wage relationship at the core of modern societies, continuously altering and destabilising workers’ lives. Recognising this shift is essential to interrogating what work—and our lives—will become in the years ahead. The book, therefore, concludes with a proposed research agenda structured around five key axes.As such, Workers Without Companies will appeal to sociologists with interests in work and industry, employment and unemployment, organisation studies and labour relations.

This book examines the changes in many kibbutz factories which have recently transformed from socialist entities, with egalitarian and cooperative relationships, to hierarchical and market-driven structures.Focusing on five case studies from an ethnographic perspective, the book explores the reasons for this organizational change and examines its ideological, social, and economic causes. Ranging from organizational culture as a tool for economic success to the cooperative clan lifestyle and its organizational experience for improving human life and economic production, the author uncovers and investigates various hidden layers of the organizational culture in the kibbutz, revealing that cultural change in the factories was intended as a way of coping with a changing competitive environment. Adding new typologies for familial business types, demonstrating how hybrid organizational structures have promoted economic success, and examining the lesser-studied communal perspective, it shows how social development can be used to provide a deeper analysis of the kibbutz industry as a microcosm of the changes in communal lifestyle that have recently shifted toward materialism and capitalism. As such, The Kibbutz Industry will appeal to scholars and students with interests in the sociology of organization, business studies, human resource management, and organizational behavior.

This book examines the changes in many kibbutz factories which have recently transformed from socialist entities, with egalitarian and cooperative relationships, to hierarchical and market-driven structures.Focusing on five case studies from an ethnographic perspective, the book explores the reasons for this organizational change and examines its ideological, social, and economic causes. Ranging from organizational culture as a tool for economic success to the cooperative clan lifestyle and its organizational experience for improving human life and economic production, the author uncovers and investigates various hidden layers of the organizational culture in the kibbutz, revealing that cultural change in the factories was intended as a way of coping with a changing competitive environment. Adding new typologies for familial business types, demonstrating how hybrid organizational structures have promoted economic success, and examining the lesser-studied communal perspective, it shows how social development can be used to provide a deeper analysis of the kibbutz industry as a microcosm of the changes in communal lifestyle that have recently shifted toward materialism and capitalism. As such, The Kibbutz Industry will appeal to scholars and students with interests in the sociology of organization, business studies, human resource management, and organizational behavior.

This book scrutinises polarisation in Sweden, identifying patterns and variations in labour market transformation and exploring the consequences in terms of jobs, income, prestige, unionization and employment security, as well as the effects on different social groups. Through a series of empirical studies, it sheds light on changes in the occupational structure and the ways in which these changes interact with other societal trends, such as increased temporary employment, rising migration and decreased unionization, whilst also exploring changes in the evaluation of occupations and attitudes towards trade unions. Drawing on distinctly sociological perspectives, it shows how transformations in society and the labour market have affected conditions for individuals and considers whether these changes reinforce existing inequalities occasioned by polarisation or create new ones. Scrutinising Polarisation considers whether and how the Swedish labour market has polarized – and, if so, what this means for individual employees and labour organizations. It will therefore appeal to scholars with interests in the sociology of work and professions, social inequalities and labour market transformations.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book scrutinises polarisation in Sweden, identifying patterns and variations in labour market transformation and exploring the consequences in terms of jobs, income, prestige, unionization and employment security, as well as the effects on different social groups. Through a series of empirical studies, it sheds light on changes in the occupational structure and the ways in which these changes interact with other societal trends, such as increased temporary employment, rising migration and decreased unionization, whilst also exploring changes in the evaluation of occupations and attitudes towards trade unions. Drawing on distinctly sociological perspectives, it shows how transformations in society and the labour market have affected conditions for individuals and considers whether these changes reinforce existing inequalities occasioned by polarisation or create new ones. Scrutinising Polarisation considers whether and how the Swedish labour market has polarized – and, if so, what this means for individual employees and labour organizations. It will therefore appeal to scholars with interests in the sociology of work and professions, social inequalities and labour market transformations.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Automation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence draws on historical and contemporary debates to examine the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence.While automation is often portrayed as an inevitable technological force driving economic progress or job loss, the book reframes it as a socially constructed discourse that is shaped by competing beliefs, interests, and narratives about human labor, progress, and value. It situates current anxieties about AI within a longer trajectory of industrial transformation by identifying four distinct ways of understanding automation: the activist, resigned, status quo, and futurist discourses. By analysing how these discourses emerge in policy debates, media coverage, and academic research, the book reveals how language and ideology influence the adoption and governance of new technologies.This book offers conceptual framework for scholars in sociology, political economy, and science and technology studies, as well as for policymakers and labor advocates seeking to navigate automation’s social impacts. In doing so, it moves beyond deterministic narratives of job loss to uncover the deeper cultural meanings attached to technological change and the uncertain future of work.

Automation in the Age of Artificial Intelligence draws on historical and contemporary debates to examine the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence.While automation is often portrayed as an inevitable technological force driving economic progress or job loss, the book reframes it as a socially constructed discourse that is shaped by competing beliefs, interests, and narratives about human labor, progress, and value. It situates current anxieties about AI within a longer trajectory of industrial transformation by identifying four distinct ways of understanding automation: the activist, resigned, status quo, and futurist discourses. By analysing how these discourses emerge in policy debates, media coverage, and academic research, the book reveals how language and ideology influence the adoption and governance of new technologies.This book offers conceptual framework for scholars in sociology, political economy, and science and technology studies, as well as for policymakers and labor advocates seeking to navigate automation’s social impacts. In doing so, it moves beyond deterministic narratives of job loss to uncover the deeper cultural meanings attached to technological change and the uncertain future of work.

Senhu Wang unveils how managers have quietly normalised relentless overwork within China's tech giants and how this same strategy is now spreading globally. From the open-plan offices of Shenzhen to remote teams worldwide, this book exposes the subtle tactics that transform ambition into exhaustion: unattainable goals masked as passion, constant surveillance disguised as collaboration, and the glorification of work as a moral virtue.Drawing on years of fieldwork, interviews, and four major theoretical frameworks, it reveals how macro-level forces shape daily realities through the often-overlooked middle layer of management. The chapters offer a detailed roadmap of the hidden mechanisms that keep knowledge workers tied to their screens long after official hours, while also providing practical insights into where meaningful resistance can emerge.Essential reading for scholars in the sociology of work, management studies, and labour in the digital age, this book will also resonate with policymakers, HR leaders, union organisers, and burned-out employees seeking the first comprehensive explanation of how overwork has endured despite laws, campaigns, and technological "solutions" and, most importantly, what it will truly take to end it.

This book explores the connection between British and German officer cadets’ perceptions of the past and their motivations for enlisting in the military forces in the United Kingdom and Germany. Drawing upon qualitative interviews and survey data conducted at officers’ academies in the UK and Germany, the author offers a comparative analysis using differing approaches towards history and memory in Britain and Germany, while considering the roles of individual goals and societal orientations in the decision to enlist. Employing the notion of pragmatic professionalism, which reflects the fact that occupational and institutional reasons for enlisting are not opposite points on a single scale, Professionalism, Memory and Identity examines history-orientated reasons for enlistment by shedding light on officer cadets’ values, beliefs and wider cultural understandings of the past. With attention to differences in motivation as a result of differing national backgrounds and former military training, as well as the extent to which these divergences contribute to the emergence of different types of soldiers in the two countries, this comparative, international study will appeal to scholars of sociology, politics and war studies with interests in the military profession and the role of history in contemporary Britain and Germany.