Labor, Economy, and Society
PESS - Polity Economy and Society Series
1. Auflage Januar 2013
200 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Work is, and always will be, a central institution of society.
What makes a capitalist society unique is that it treats the human
capacity to engage in labor as a basic commodity. This can be a
source of dynamism, as when innovative firms raise wages to attract
the best and brightest. But it can also be a source of misery, as
when one's skills are suddenly rendered obsolete by forces
beyond one's control.
Jeffrey J. Sallaz asks us to rethink our basic assumptions about
work. Drawing on cutting-edge theories within economic sociology
and through the use of contemporary examples, he conceptualizes
labor as embedded exchange. This draws attention to issues that all
too frequently are overlooked in our public discourse and private
imaginations: how various forms of work are classified and valued;
how markets for labor operate in practice; and how people can
challenge the central fiction that their work is simply a commodity
to be bought and sold.
This readable and engaging book is suitable for both graduate
and advanced undergraduate students. It will be of interest to
economic sociologists, scholars of labor, and all of those who find
themselves working for a living.
1 Introduction: What Good is Work? 1
2 The Great Transformation of Work 17
3 Classifying Labor 41
4 Commensurating Labor 66
5 Making Labor Markets 88
6 Controlling Labor 110
7 Labor and Group-Making 134
8 Conclusion: What Good is Embeddedness? 157
Notes 169
References 171
Index 190
field long neglected by the new economic sociology. He shows
stupendously how the tools of economic sociology can be used for
the analysis of labor. At the same time, he demonstrates how the
analysis of labor under global capitalism enriches the conceptual
toolkit of economic sociology."
Jens Beckert, Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of
Societies
"In this age of neoliberal 'great
transformation,' Sallaz skillfully provides an enticing and
beautifully written account of a new 'critical economic
sociology of labor' which draws on the most recent research.
'The embeddedness of labor within the social' is
examined through the prisms of technology, globalization,
regulatory agencies, the state, emotional labor, gift-making, and
much more. This book will leave its mark on economic sociology, the
sociology of work and industrial relations, and our understanding
of inequality-generating processes, and I recommend it with
enthusiasm."
Michèle Lamont, Harvard University
"Globalization has now exposed workers to the capricious
forces of the unregulated market, rendering employment precarious,
individualized, and increasingly redundant. The gross accumulation
of wealth by the one percent, the impoverishment of millions of
working people, and the destruction of social cohesion in the
heartlands of capitalism have put in question an economic system
that continues to be governed by the crude, and ultimately immoral,
principles of love of gain and fear of loss of economic livelihood.
Sallaz invites the reader to join the search for
alternatives."
Kari Polanyi-Levitt, McGill University
