Steven P. Vallas, William Finlay and Amy S. Wharton
Understanding the world of work is often difficult for students--particularly undergraduates--to grasp. The Sociology of Work: Structures and Inequalities answers the need for a clear, engaging--and affordable--introduction to the basic concepts used by sociologists of work. Throughout, the text
links the most up-to-date research and scholarship on work and occupations with their underlying sociological principles. Beginning with a thorough discussion of these core concepts, it goes on to show the historical developments of labor processes, thus allowing students to draw modern, real-world
connections. The book also examines the contemporary work scene (both domestic and global), its concurrent occupational structures, and, all too often, its resultant inequalities.
While remarkably accessible, The Sociology of Work does not shy away from challenging students with
weightier sociological concepts, theories, and methodological issues, as well as less commonly discussed topics like Luddism, the role of gender in the industrial revolution, and the rise and decline of the workers' movement.
Comprehensive and versatile, The Sociology of Work: Structures
and Inequalities is ideal for courses in the sociology of work and occupations, and the sociology of organizations and corporations, as well as labor studies and human resource management.
Part I: Introduction
1. The Sociology of Work: An Invitation
The Primacy of Production Thesis
The Sociology of Work: Core Principles
Conclusion
2. Theoretical Traditions in the Sociology of Work
Classical Perspectives on Work and Society
Contemporary
Perspectives on Work and Society
Perspectives Toward Work: Present Realities and Future Perspectives
3. Studying Workers and Work: Research Methods in the Field
Methods for Studying Work and Workers
Official Statistics
Surveys and
Interviews
Ethnographies
Experiments
Summary and Conclusions
Part II: The Historical Development of Work
4. The Industrial Revolution and Beyond: Culture, Work, and Social Change
Understanding the Industrial Revolution
The Meaning of Work in Pre-Industrial
Societies
The Rise of the Factory System: Luddism Revisited
Gender, Family, and the Factory System: Emergence of the Male Breadwinner Norm
Conclusion
5. The Second Industrial Revolution: Mass Production and Labor Management
The Rise of Mass Production
Frederick Winslow Taylor
and Scientific Management
Henry Ford and the Assembly Line
How Workers Responded to Mass Production
The Invention of Personnel Management
The Hawthorne Research: The Discovery of the Work Group
Part III: Occupational Structures
6. Production Workers and the Hidden
World of Work
The Skills of Blue-Collar Workers
How Work Gets Done: Informal Work Practices
Good Citizenship in the Workplace
Summary
7. Managers: Careers at Work
The Managerial Occupation
What Do Managers Do?
Managers' Careers
Gender and Racial Differences in
Access to Power and Authority
The Future of Management
Summary
8. The Professions: Power and Status in the Workplace
The Characteristics of the Professions
Controlling Professional Work: The Professional Ethic
Professional Careers
Summary
9. Service Jobs: Close
Encounters with Customers
Defining Service
Service Industries and Service Occupations
Characteristics of Service Jobs
Control, Routinization, and Technology in Service Work
Doing Deference: Personal Service Work
Conclusion: Beyond the Service Economy
Part IV:
Inequalities
10. Unions in America: The Struggles of the Labor Movement
The Glory Years of Industrial Unionism: 1933-1945
The Decline of Unions After World War II
The Costs of Union Decline
The Future of Unions
Summary
11. Gender and Work
The Rise in Women's Labor
Force Participation
The Sex Segregation of Jobs and Occupations
Maintaining Barriers between "Men's" and "Women's" Jobs
The Gender Pay Gap and the Worth of Jobs
The Future of Gender Inequality at Work
Conclusion
12. Managing Diversity: Racial and Ethnic Divisions at
Work
Race, Ethnicity, and the Sociology of Work
Government Efforts to Uproot Racial and Ethnic Disparities
Corporate Change and the Management of Diversity
Conclusion
13. Immigrant Workers: Marginal Work, Networks, and Entrepreneurship
Migration of the Poor: Mexicans, Central
Americans, and Filipinos
Immigrant Hiring: Networks and Gateways
Immigrants and Entrepreneurship
Summary
Part V: The Future of Work: Key Issues And Social Choices
14. Work and Family
The Rise of Domesticity
Work Time, Family Time, and Work-Family
Conflict
Cross-National Differences in Work and Family
The Growth of Non-Standard Employment Contracts and the 24/7 Economy
Conclusion
15. The New American Workplace
Trends in Occupational Growth: Some Evidence
The Changing Employment Relationship
The Participatory
Management Movement: Lean Production, Teams, and New Technology
Conclusion
16. Globalization and the American Workplace
Dimensions of Globalization
The Meaning of Globalization for the American Worker
Studying Global Commodity Chains
Conclusions: Shaping Globalization
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Steven Vallas is Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. William Finlay is Professor and Department Head of Sociology at the University of Georgia. Amy Wharton is Professor of Sociology at Washington State University and editor of the journal, Social
Problems.
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