A New Sociology of Work?

This collection examines the concept of work, questioning what constitutes work, where work ends and other activities begin, and how different forms of labour are organized across and within societies. It asks what might be required of “a new sociology of work” and why such a project is vital for understanding people’s working lives at the start of the twenty-first century.

At the book’s core is the acknowledgement that work goes on outside formal employment as well as within it, in the family, the community and within various institutions. Drawing together fieldwork from young researchers as well as those eminent in the field, it explores how a diverse range of localized, temporal and socio-economic factors shape people’s experiences of work. The collection offers particular insight into the experiences of people who are constrained in their economic activities. In the opening and closing chapters, the editors develop a distinctive theoretical framework and draw together key conclusions and policy recommendations.