The recent vast upsurge in social science scholarship on job precarity has generally little to say about earlier forms of this phenomenon. Eloisa Betti’s monograph convincingly demonstrates on the example of Italy that even in the post-war phase of Keynesian stability and welfare state, precarious labor was an underlying feature of economic development. She examines how in this short period exceptional politics of labor stability prevailed. The volume then presents the processes whereby labor precarity regained momentum— under the name of flexibility— in the post-Fordist phase from the early 1980s, taking on new forms in the Craxi and Berlusconi eras. Multiple actors are addressed in the analysis. The book gives voice to intellectuals, scholars, politicians and trade unionists as they have framed the concept and debates on precarious work from the 1950s onwards. Views of labor law experts, politicians and public servants are investigated in regard to labor regulations. Positions of the very precarians are explored, ranging from rural women, industrial homeworkers and blue-collar workers to physicians, university researchers and trainees, unveiling the emergence of anti-precarity social movements. The continuous role of women’s associations and feminist groups in opposing labor precarity since the 1950s is prominently exposed.

'Precarious Employment' explores the nature and dynamics of precarious employment in contemporary Canada.

Tackling precarious work has been described by the United Nations (UN)’s International Labour Organization (ILO) as the main challenge facing the world of work. In this ground-breaking book, leading applied research scholars, advocates, and activists from across the globe respond to this challenge by showing how Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychology has a significant contribution to make in humanity moving away from precarious work situations towards sustainable livelihoods. Broken down into four key parts on Sustainable Livelihoods, Fair Incomes, Work Security and Social Protection, the book covers a multitude of topics including the role of poor pay, lack of work-related security, social protection for human health and wellbeing, and interventions and policies to implement for the future of work. The volume offers a detailed look into useful and effective ways to tackle precarious work to create and maintain sustainable livelihoods. This curated collection of 22 chapters considers the broader relationships between previous research work and issues of human security and sustainability that affect workers, families, communities, and societies. Each chapter expands the present understandings of the world of precarious work and how it fits within broader issues of economic, ecological, and social sustainability. In addition to I/O psychologists in research, practice, service and study, this book will also be useful for organizational researchers, labor unions, HR practitioners, fair trade, cooperative, and civil society organizations, social scientists, human security analysts, public health professionals, economists, and supporters of the UN SDGs, including at the UN.

Precarious employment presents a monumental challenge to the social, economic, and political stability of labour markets in industrialized societies and there is widespread consensus that its growth is contributing to a series of common social inequalities, especially along the lines of gender and citizenship. The editors argue that these inequalities are evident at the national level across industrialized countries, as well as at the regional level within federal societies, such as Canada, Germany, the United States, and Australia and in the European Union. This book brings together contributions addressing this issue which include case studies exploring the size, nature, and dynamics of precarious employment in different industrialized countries and chapters examining conceptual and methodological challenges in the study of precarious employment in comparative perspective. The collection aims to yield new ways of understanding, conceptualizing, measuring, and responding, via public policy and other means – such as new forms of union organization and community organizing at multiple scales – to the forces driving labour market insecurity.

This book analyzes the adverse effects of globalization and liberalization — acutely manifest in the increased financialization of capital and the concomitant global financial crisis of 2008–09 — on the labour force, especially in the developing countries. Drawing upon case studies from several countries including India, Columbia, Malawi, Brazil and Thailand, it highlights the worsening plight of working class as a whole and informal labour in particular. The essays examine issues such as down-sizing, lowering of wages, insecurity and erosion of labour rights, and show how labour is grappling with the situation. The volume critically re-assesses varied aspects of the growing informal sector: its dubious credential as an employment provider during crises; its non-adherence to internationally recognized standards of decent work; the problems and potential of workers' unions; and the need for a regulatory regime. It also discusses changes in the Indian labour market induced by business environment and technology as well as its future dynamics. Presenting a historical review of labour markets, the work explores the deregulation wave under the globalization of 1980s and the interactions between existing unstable asset markets and labour markets. The book will prove especially useful to students and scholars in economics, labour studies and sociology, and those engaged in public policy and governance.

This volume features cutting-edge and impactful articles from across Springer's diverse journals publishing program. In this curated collection, our editorial team has brought together highly-cited and downloaded articles on the topic of Work and Organizational Psychology into one single resource. Moreover, this book enables readers to review a broad spectrum of quality research on a specialized topic, which we hope facilitates interdisciplinary and critical discussions of the topic at hand. As part of the Key Topics in Behavioral Sciences book series, this volume aims to serve as a quick reference for readers when writing or researching new topics or subject areas. Other topics in the series will include Psychological Research Methods, Health and Behavior, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Sports Psychology, and Consumer Behavior. In the first section of the volume, articles focus on such topics as Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Italian Perceived Stress Scale, Precarious Workers, Age, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gender, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Organizational Identification, Work Experience, Defensive Silence, Emotional Exhaustion, Interpersonal Deviance, Mediation Analysis, and Workplace Ostracism. Next, the second section features research on Conscientiousness, Job Performance, Psychological Strains, Resource Allocation, Stressors, Turnover Intentions, Affective Commitment, Burnout, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Workplace Incivility. Lastly in the final section of this collection, Abusive Supervision, Knowledge Sharing, Leader-Member Exchange, Psychological Contract, Self-Enhancement Motive, Affective Commitment, Meaningful Work, Moderated Mediation, Positive Work Reflection, Work Centrality, Felt Trust, Self-Determination, Social Exchange Theory, Trust, and Uncertainty Management are discussed.

This book examines the State’s duty to protect human rights in Asia amidst rising concern over the human rights impact of business organisations in the region, a topic which has hitherto been understudied. It analyses a range of inter-connected issues: the advent of international standards, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the challenges inherent in the formulation of National Action Plans on business and human rights, the need for improved legislation and policies, access to remedies, and conflicts with indigenous peoples over business activities. The book also covers innovative themes such as BHR in the era of smart cities, ethical consumer behavior, and a human rights management system, which are emerging areas of enquiry in this field concluding with a range of critical issues to be addressed, including the need for an assessment of COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on BHR in Asia and beyond. This book is part of Asia Centre’s exploration of the nascent regional human rights architecture that is facing significant obstacles in protecting human rights and showcases the progress achieved and the ongoing challenges across Asia.

The 2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent Eurozone crisis triggered dramatic changes in European labour relations. Unemployment and precariousness increased considerably. This was further exacerbated by austerity measures, leading to declining minimum wages and layoffs in the public sector. These structural changes varied considerably by country but collectively pose challenges to organized labour as they confront neoliberal restructuring. Concurrently, recent social struggles continue to develop with unemployed and precarious workers playing a major role as protest actors. Focusing on the triangular relationship of precariousness, trade unions and social movements, this book draws on a range of exciting cases, both comparative and country case studies, in order to understand how the shadow of the crisis still haunts organized labour in Europe. The chapters in this collection each offer a unique perspective on how the results of the crisis, in Western, Southern and Eastern Europe, are leading to a variety of new social movements as a consequence of increased precariousness and also how trade unions are attempting to respond.

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Disability provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the wide range and depth of sociological theory and research on disability-brought together for the first time in one volume. Each section of the Handbook incorporates a uniquely sociological perspective, presented by a wide-range of experts on intersecting social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of disability, that complements disability scholarship. The 37 chapters in this Handbook, organized into three major sections, provide an assessment of the history of the field, its current state, and the future for research on and in the sociology of disability. The first section reviews frameworks foundational to the study of disability, pushes for the inclusion of broader global perspectives, and addresses important dimensions of representation. The second section presents a combination of perspectives that tie together individual biography, societal contexts, and historic change, while emphasizing continuity and change in the dynamic processes linking individuals, institutions, and structures over time. In the third section, contributors investigate the reproduction of inequality through law, policy, and related institutions and systems, while highlighting how social and political participation empowers people with disabilities and helps to mitigate inequalities and social marginalization. The chapters included in this volume offer a multifaceted resource for students and experienced scientists alike on historical developments, main standards, key issues, and current challenges in the sociological study of disability at the global, national, and regional levels.

This book provides a comprehensive picture for understanding the experiences and dynamics of precarious workers’ in-work poverty in western China. The research presented in this book identifies the causes and the consequences of precarious employment and in-work poverty and analyses the stakeholders’ responses to the changes in the context of employment in China's socialist market economy. The book explains why precarious workers tend to remain outsiders to rapid socio-economic transformation and informs readers as to how people make choices, how those with different abilities adapt to the process of de-traditionalisation and how marketisation changes people’s lifestyles, value systems, policy designs. Detailing empirical investigations of the experience and dynamics of workers’ precarious life, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese society, social policy and poverty.