This book provides a critical overview of the myriad literatures on
"work," viewed not only as a product of the marketplace but also as a
social and political construct. Drawing on theoretical and empirical
contributions from sociology, history, economics, and organizational
studies, the book brings together perspectives that too often remain
balkanized, using each to explore the nature of work today.
Outlining the fundamental principles that unite social science thinking
about work, Vallas offers an original discussion of the major
theoretical perspectives that inform workplace analysis, including
Marxist, interactionist, feminist, and institutionalist schools of
thought. Chapters are devoted to the labor process, to workplace
flexibility, to gender and racial inequalities at work, and to the link
between globalization and the structure of work and authority today.
Major topics include the relation between work and identity; the
relation between workplace culture and managerial control; and the
performance of emotional labor within service occupations.
This concise book will be invaluable to students at all levels as it
explores a range of insights to make sense of pressing issues that drive
the social scientific study of work today.