Why do people work hard, and take pride in what they do? This book discusses about what happens when people try to do a good job. It asks us to think about the true meaning of skill in the 'skills society' and argues that pure competition is a poor way to achieve quality work.

Thirty years of economic change have fundamentally altered the nature of organizations and work in China. This volume brings together the research by many of the top scholars studying these issues and provides a glimpse into the state of thinking on organizations and work at the start of the fourth decade of transition.

This international collection explores aspects of lifestyle and identity, societal influences on ways of living, the relevance of social networks and geographic communities for lifestyle choices, and the significance of organisational policies and practices for lifestyle outcomes.

Through a series of case studies of low-status interactive and embodied servicing work, this work examines the theoretical and empirical nature of the shift to embodied work in service-dominated economies. It defines 'body work' to include the work by service sector employees on their own bodies and on the bodies of others.

This book argues that corporate culture - the values, customs, and conventions of a business organization - has altered how workers conduct themselves both inside and outside the workplace.

How Caregiving Fathers Breadwinning Moms and Shared Parenting Are Transforming the TwentyFirstCentu. Blending history, testimony, manifesto, and social analysis, Twenty-First-Century Dad, is a nuanced, articulate look at an increasingly important social phenomenon stay-at-home and caregiving dads, and the families they belong to.

The book makes a major new contribution to the sociology of employment by comparing the quality of working life in European societies with very different institutional systems - France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Sweden.

Uses United States census occupation data to analyse artists' demographic and employment patterns. This book begins with a discussion of key findings, followed by 60 supporting tables derived from the 1990 and 2000 censuses and the 2003-2005 American Community Survey.

Presents a statistical portrait of the standard of living of America's working families. This work analyzes areas such as family income, taxes, wages, jobs, wealth and poverty, and shows how the economy is reflected in the lives of American workers.

Two centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, millions are subjected to modern forms of forced labor - in rich countries, as well as poor ones. This book presents research on the manifestations of these slavery-like practices, and tells why they continue to survive, and how they can be eliminated.

Describes how life was for ordinary people, and provides a vivid alternative history of Britain.

A hard-hitting expose of the overwork culture and modern management techniques that seduce millions of people to hand over the best part of their lives to their employer.

What counts? In work, as in other areas of life, it is not always clear what standards we are being judged by or how our worth is being determined. Drawing on John Dewey's notion that 'perplexing situations' provide opportunities for innovative inquiry, this work argues that the dissonance of diverse principles can lead to discovery.

Changing Forms of Employment examines the widespread evidence of change in specific aspects of employing organizations, employment and employment related institutions.

The premise of this book is that careers and creativity are connected, both at the level of the individual and of the larger institutions of work and society. It explores models of creativity and careers, linking them with examples from a range of professions, countries, and industries.

Based on a comparative analysis of education and work during political and labour market changes of the transition to post-communism, the authors argue that the social polarizations and erosion of the dual system of education and training in Eastern Germany may portend the future for the West.

This work shows how the widespread restructuring of American firms - usually resulting in a reduction of the workforce to cut costs - has had a profound impact on the lives of workers. The book explains how the new relationship requires high skill levels, but does not provide training for them.