The Sociology of Work: Introduction

The third edition of this best-selling textbook has been carefully revised to provide an up-to-date, indispensable introduction to the sociology of work. It not only includes clear explanations of classic theories and evidence, but also covers the most cutting-edge research, data, and debates. In addition to being revised throughout, the book contains substantive new sections on globalisation, including global branding and slave labour, and a new chapter on the myths and realities of modern employment.

Chapter-by-chapter, Keith Grint examines different sociological approaches to work, emphasising the links between social processes, the institutions of employment, and their social and domestic contexts. His use of an international range of empirical evidence helps to make his account especially accessible to undergraduate readers. The book has been specially designed to support students’ understanding, and to develop their critical responses to the literature. Written in a lively and accessible style, it provides student-friendly chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, a glossary and practice essay questions.

This third edition will be essential reading for students of the sociology of work, industrial sociology, organisational behaviour and industrial relations. Students studying business and management courses with a sociological component will also find the book invaluable.

In his textbook introducing the sociology of work, Grint (leadership studies, Lancaster U.) attempts a somewhat wider view of the topic than might be considered typical, going beyond paid labor and a concentration on male factory workers to include spheres of work such as unpaid domestic labor and connections between the domestic and employment spheres. He also seeks to include conceptions of gender and ethnicity alongside class and rejects polarization of organizational features into social and technical. His chapters cover work in historical perspective; Marxist, Weberian, and Durkheimian approaches to work; contemporary theories of work organization; class, industrial conflict and the labor process; gender, patriarchy, and trade unions; race, ethnicity, and labor market; working technology; and globalization and the future of work. Distributed in the US by Blackwell Publishers. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Keith Grint, Professor of Leadership Studies and Director of the Lancaster Leadership Centre, Lancaster University