This book provides a comprehensive examination of the physical and mental health challenges facing workers today, focusing particularly on the social, technological, and political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delving into core perceptions of work culture, chapters also map out ways of thinking about wellbeing at work in the future to make workplaces healthier and more productive.

This insightful book provides a systematic analysis of the development of affluent Western welfare states in this turbulent era. It explores the consequences for welfare states of modern crises such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Most importantly, it investigates how to prioritize scarce resources in the face of many competing demands and argues that there is an urgent need to improve crisis funding whilst at the same time maintaining provision for vulnerable groups. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

This incisive book examines how the values of social justice can be protected against attacks from the interacting economic, social, environmental, and health crises of the 21st century. Global contributors outline key elements of a political programme that resists the shift to the right caused by this turbulence through centring fairness, equality, respect and inclusion.

In recent years, human rights have come under fire, with the rise of political illiberalism and the coming to power of populist authoritarian leaders in many parts of the world who contest and dismiss the idea of human rights. More surprisingly, scholars and public intellectuals, from both the progressive and the conservative side of the political spectrum, have also been deeply critical, dismissing human rights as flawed, inadequate, hegemonic, or overreaching. While acknowledging some of the shortcomings, this book presents an experimentalist account of international human rights law and practice and argues that the human rights movement remains a powerful and appealing one with widespread traction in many parts of the globe. Using three case studies to illuminate the importance and vibrancy of the movement around the world, the book argues that its potency and legitimacy rest on three main pillars: First, it is based on a deeply-rooted and widely appealing moral discourse that integrates the three universal values of human dignity, human welfare, and human freedom. Second, these values and their elaboration in international legal instruments have gained widespread - even if thin - agreement among states worldwide. Third, human rights law and practice is highly dynamic, with human rights being activated, shaped, and given meaning and impact through the on-going mobilization of affected individuals and groups, and through their iterative engagement with multiple domestic and international institutions and processes. The book offers an account of how the human rights movement has helped to promote human rights and positive social change, and argues that the challenges of the current era provide good reasons to reform, innovate, and strengthen that movement, rather than to abandon it or to herald its demise.

This edited book presents a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of a broad range of issues pertaining to COVID-19 and its relationship to occupational safety, health and well-being (OSHW) in the global construction industry. The editors first introduce the industry and its poor OSHW history before highlighting some of the broader impacts of the pandemic on the sector. The book is then divided into two sections. Section One focuses on the management of COVID-19 transmission risk. It captures insights, practices, technologies and lessons learned in relation to what has and is being done to prevent or mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission among the construction workforce. Construction Safety, Health and Well-being in the COVID-19 Era also details case studies, lessons and best practices for managing sites and workforces when infections inevitably do occur. Section Two brings together international chapters discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on the OSHW of the construction workforce both on and off-site, as well as the management of those impacts. Furthermore, this presents implications of the pandemic (at the short-, medium-, and long-term) for other performance measures of construction projects such as cost, schedule, quality and, most importantly, how the pursuit/non-pursuit of such performance measures have impacted/will impact the OSHW of construction workers and professionals in the industry. This book addresses the gap in literature by offering global perspectives on the OSHW impacts and implications of COVID-19 in the construction industry and will help its wide readership (including construction industry organisations, professionals, researchers, government bodies/policy makers and students) to understand a broad suite of issues pertaining to COVID-19 and its relationship to OSHW in construction.

This book addresses the profound question of mental malaise in its many forms in contemporary Japanese society, focusing on three main areas: work, family and youth. The purpose is to provide an analytical, critical account of the social psychological state of the Japanese today, as well as to present possible measures that could contribute to positive outcomes. Following the boom and bust years of the Japanese economy in the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese society was faced with the burden of rapid change and adjustment resulting in a significant increase in psychological and personality disorders at a level unknown in the past. These include karo-jisatsu (suicide by overwork), sekkusu-resu (sexless marriage), kateinairikon (in house divorce) and hikikomori (complete social withdrawal). This study will be widely welcomed by sociologists, psychologists and mental health professionals interested in the interconnectedness of culture and social structure, personality and psychopathology, and the historical development of these issues. It also offers valuable insight into questions relating to cross-cultural understanding.

Examining the relationship between trade and labour regulation in light of the pressing need to promote sustainable development, Tonia Novitz interrogates how international legal architecture could be reformed so that no one in the world of work gets left behind. She highlights the dangers of pursuing labour and environmental issues on parallel tracks without recognising how they interact, ultimately arguing for the crafting of the content and application of trade rules through participatory processes, which involve the inclusive representation of all sectors of the labour market and all parts of the world.

A person in a leadership position frequently navigates through challenging environments and crisis situations. COVID-19’s fast global expansion has quickly surpassed the scale and breadth of other recent epidemics, and people are naturally inclined to look to leaders for direction while seeking authority and certainty. The importance of competent, calm, and trustworthy leadership is greater than ever during unpredictable and turbulent times as leadership effectiveness can be best judged in crisis environments. Global Leadership Perspectives on Industry, Society, and Government in an Era of Uncertainty examines how leaders from industry, society, and government respond to and manage crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of cultural and national contexts. This book is poised to address contemporary leadership issues as well as the fundamental issues such as its definition, evolution of leadership theories, its distinction from management, and implications for gender, culture, and different fields of knowledge. Covering topics such as employee retention, leadership skills, and women entrepreneurs, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for leaders, managers, executives, investors, economic analysts, policymakers, human resource managers, entrepreneurs, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

Examines the effect of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974.