Worker organizing has long been a cornerstone of efforts to secure fair pay, decent working conditions, and protection against the insecurities of market economies. By acting collectively, workers have historically been able to counterbalance employer power and win improvements to work and life. Yet such gains have always been partial and contested, and the settlements between labour and capital remain under constant pressure. In the wake of rapid social, political, technological, and envi...

The Covid-19 pandemic both popularized and politicized the designation of essential work. Interrogating the dialectics of essential work, this volume of Research in the Sociology of Work presents original research that explores the essentiality of work and highlights the experiences of essential workers during the pandemic, drawing on empirical studies in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Demonstrating an enduring struggle for recognition and dignity, as well as fo...

Employability has become an increasingly widespread concept both in management and policy, but its meaning remains somewhat enigmatic and ambiguous. This volume offers a much-needed critical analysis of the ideology, practices, and policies of employability, reflecting significant transformations in the world of work and the individualizing experience of contemporary labour markets. This volume draws on a wide range of empirical studies to examine how discourses of employability have impac...

Presenting cutting-edge ethnographic research on contemporary worlds of work and the experiences of workers from a range of contexts, Volume 35 of Research in the Sociology of Work offers fine-grained, exploratory ethnographic data to provide insights unmatched by other research methods.Conscious of the social and economic upheaval that continues to transform the contemporary workplace and the wider landscape for workers across the globe, Ethnographies of Work, th...