Sociology: work & labour
Parental Leave and Beyond
Recent International Developments, Current Issues and Future Directions
This volume provides an international perspective on parental leave policies in different countries, goes beyond this to examine a range of issues in depth, and aims to stimulate thinking about possible futures and how policy might underpin them.
Balancing the skills equation
Key issues and challenges for policy and practice
Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce.
New Labour/hard labour?
Restructuring and resistance inside the welfare industry
This book provides the first critically informed discussion of work and workers in the UK welfare sector under New Labour. It examines the changing nature of work and explores the context of industrial relations across the welfare industry.
Combining Work and Care
Carer Leave and Related Employment Policies in International Context
Written and informed by national experts, this is the first publication to provide a detailed examination of the development, implementation and implications of carer leave policies and policies in 9 countries across Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America.
Single Mothers and the Welfare Trap
Work, Care and Civil Society
Drawing on interviews with welfare-reliant single mothers living in the South Wales Valleys, this original book charts their interactions with the labour market and welfare state. It challenges current understandings of welfare eligibility and dependency and provides valuable new policy insights for welfare reform.
Migrants and Refugees in Europe
Work Integration in Comparative Perspective
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book explores the labour market integration of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers across seven European countries. It investigates how legal, political, social and personal circumstances combine to determine the work trajectory for migrants who choose Europe as their home.
Emotions in Crisis
Youth and Social Change in Spain
Drawing on the experiences of young adults after the 2008 economic crisis in Spain, Emotions in Crisis analyses the impact of structural changes in society on individual and collective emotions.
Intimacy as a Lens on Work and Migration
Experiences of Ethnic Performers in Southwest China
This book explores the experiences of ethnic performers' in a small Chinese city. Introducing the concept of ‘intimacy as a lens’, the author examines intimate negotiations involving emotions, sense of self and relationships as a way of understanding wider social inequalities.
Menopause Transitions and the Workplace
Theorizing Transitions, Responsibilities and Interventions
Offering theoretical frameworks from experts as well as practical examples to support women transitioning through menopause in the workplace, this is a go-to reference for academics and policy makers working in the field.
Affective Capitalism in Academia
Revealing Public Secrets
Drawing on affect theory and research on academic capitalism and 11 international case studies, this book examines the contemporary crisis of universities, from the coloniality of academic capitalism to performance management and the experience of being performance-managed.
The Value of Industrial Relations
Contemporary Work and Employment in Britain
Published in collaboration with BUIRA, this book critically reviews the future of Industrial Relations (IR)in a changing work landscape and traces its historical evolution. Essential for academics, students and trade unions, it explores IR's significant changes over the past decade and its ongoing influence on our lives.
The Moral Economy of Activation
Ideas, Politics and Policies
By rethinking the role of ideas and morality in policy changes, this book illustrates how the moral economy of activation leads to a permanent behaviourist testing of the unemployed in public debate as well as in local job centres.