Sociology: work & labour

Written by a leading expert, this book examines equality issues in the City of London, arguing that social hiring practices in the City favour affluent applicants, and calls for a policy shift at the organisational and governmental levels.

The word ‘precarity’ is widely used when discussing work, employment or social classes. However, there is no consensus on the precise meaning of the term or how it should best be used to explore social changes. This international and interdisciplinary book offers a distinctive and critical perspective approach to an important topic.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible working has become the norm for many workers. This volume examines flexible working using data from 30 European countries and drawing on studies conducted in Australia, the US and India

This book explores the representation of women’s interests in the world of work across 4 trade unions in France and the UK. Drawing on case studies, it unveils the social, organisational and political conditions that contribute to the reproduction of gender inequalities or, on the contrary, allow the promotion of equality.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Drawing from the EU-funded DomEQUAL research project across 9 countries in Europe, South America and Asia, this comparative study explores the conditions of domestic workers around the world and the campaigns they are conducting to improve their labour rights.

This volume challenges the idea of wage employment as the global norm, comparing lived experiences of ‘ordinary work’ across conceptual and geographical boundaries and opening up new possibilities for how work, income, identity and care might be woven together differently.

This agenda-setting book argues that the process of market integration in Europe has undermined the power and influence of European workers and generated significant human costs. In starting from the position of labour, this book offers an alternative approach which balances the needs of justice and efficiency.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. This book provides an accessible analysis of what gender equality means and how we can achieve it by adapting best practices in childcare and long term care policies from other countries.

Drawing on a range of perspectives, this international collection goes beyond a sole focus on public sector work to uniquely cover the impact of austerity on work across the private, public and voluntary spheres.

This illuminating study of working life uses decades of large-scale survey to review notions of good work and job satisfaction in the UK. Exploring data on hundreds of occupations, it charts disparities in fulfilment potential across professions, and sets out fresh ideas for improving satisfaction at work nationally.

With welfare to work programmes under intense scrutiny, this book ranges widely across Europe to review existing policies and explore future ones. It shows how many schemes do not adequately address social rights and lived experiences, and consider alternatives based on theories of non-domination.

This thought-provoking new study by Helena Liu shows how anti-racist feminism can reinvigorate leadership theory and practice, which have long been dominated by imperialist, masculinist and white supremacist agendas. Theoretically rigorous and with examples from around the world, it states the case for a bold reimagining of leadership.