Books on Sociology of Work and Industry

Sociology of Work and Industry, Abstracts, Bibliography, Syllabus, Journals

Industries, Firms and Jobs: : Sociological and Economic Approaches (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by George Farkas (Editor), Paula England (Editor)

The Sociology of Education and Work Book by David B. Bills

Work and Industry : Structures, Markets, and Processes (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Arne L. Kalleberg, Ivar Berg

Sociology, Work and Industry (Hardcover) Book by Tony J. Watson

A Sociology of Work in Japan (Contemporary Japanese Society)
Book by Ross Mouer, Hirosuke Kawanishi, Yoshio Sugimoto, Harumi Befu, Roger Goodman, Michio Muramatsu, Wolfgang Seifert, Chizuko Ueno (Series Editors)

Worlds of Work : Building an International Sociology of Work (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Daniel B. Cornfield (Editor), Randy Hodson (Editor)

Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry Andrew G Walder

Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail  by Deborah Barndt

Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown Book by Robert Bruno

Work Under Capitalism (New Perspectives in Sociology Book by Chris Tilly, Charles Tilly

Kids at Work : Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor Russell Freedman, Lewis Hine

The Transformation of Work (Research in the Sociology of Work) Book by Steven Vallas

Globalism/Localism at Work, Volume 13 (Research in the Sociology of Work)
Book by Leni Beukema, Jorge Hector Carrillo Viveros

Diversity in the Work Force, Volume 14 (Research in the Sociology of Work)
Book by Nancy DiTomaso, Corinne Post

Ready-To-Wear and Ready-To-Work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York (Comparative and International Working-Class History) by Nancy L. Green

Sourcebook of Labor Markets : Evolving Structures and Processes (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Ivar Berg (Editor), Arne L. Kalleberg (Editor)

Analyzing the Labor Force: Concepts, Measures, and Trends (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Clifford C. Clogg, Scott R. Eliason, Kevin T. Leicht

Reviews:

Sociology, Work and Industry (Hardcover) Book by Tony J. Watson
Tony Watson explains how the discipline of sociology can contribute to our wider understanding of the variety of work practices and institutions which exist in modern societies. He travels the full journey from the founding ideas of the discipline to postmodernist departures and develops all the main areas: occupations; organizations; work experience; industrial relations; industrial society and theory. The book ends with a chapter covering the major questions of how work experience and global patterns of relationships are changing now and may change in the future. Sociology, Work and Industry will prove an indispensable guide to a massive and complex field.

A Sociology of Work in Japan (Contemporary Japanese Society)
Book by Ross Mouer, Hirosuke Kawanishi, Yoshio Sugimoto (Series Editor), Harumi Befu (Series Editor), Roger Goodman (Series Editor), Michio Muramatsu (Series Editor), Wolfgang Seifert (Series Editor), Chizuko Ueno (Series Editor)
This comprehensive, introductory overview of the "world of work" in Japan recalls post-war Japan to analyze the development of industrial relations and the Japanese style of management. It considers the changes that took place in the early nineties when disillusionment set in and unemployment and economic insecurity became facts of life. The authors challenge the preeminence of Japanese management practices which have dominated the literature over the last three decades.

Worlds of Work : Building an International Sociology of Work (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Daniel B. Cornfield (Editor), Randy Hodson (Editor)
The advent of transnational economic production and market integration compels sociologists of work to look beyond traditional national boundaries and build an international sociology of work in order to effectively address the human, scientific, and practical challenges posed by global economic transnationalism. The purpose of this volume is to promote transnational dialogue about the sociology of work and help build a truly international discipline in this field.

Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry Book by Andrew G. Walder, Daniel Chirot, Journal of Asian Studies
Based on official Chinese sources as well as intensive interviews with Hong Kong residents formerly employed in mainland factories, Andrew Walder's neo-traditional image of communist society in China will be of interest not only to those concerned with China and other communist countries, but also to students of industrial relations and comparative social science.

Tangled Routes: Women, Work, and Globalization on the Tomato Trail  by Deborah Barndt
Tangled Routes follows a corporate tomato from a Mexican field through the United States to a Canadian table, examining in its wake the dynamic relationship between production and consumption, work and technology, health and environment, bio-diversity and cultural diversity. Three case studies--a Mexican agribusiness, a Canadian supermarket, and a U.S.-owned fast-food restaurant--offer a view of globalization from above (corporate profiles), globalization from below (stories of women who plant, pick, pack, scan, slice, and sell tomatoes), and the other globalization (acts of resistance and alternatives to the corporate model).

Steelworker Alley: How Class Works in Youngstown Book by Robert Bruno
Bruno, an assistant professor in the Chicago Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois, blends personal memory, oral history, and archival research to document the social, economic, and political ties that bound Youngstown steelworkers to their fellow workers, families, communities, and class. Bruno argues that the postwar academic picture of "highly paid" manual laborers contentedly assuming middle-class values does not square with the workers' own perception of their lives. His steelworker father and friends defined themselves as working class they did hard physical labor, lived and socialized with other steelworkers in plant-gate neighborhoods, and had little in common with the middle-class foremen, plant managers, and owners.

Work Under Capitalism - New Perspectives in Sociology by Chris Tilly, Charles Tilly
From the Back Cover:
"In an insightful contribution to the sociology of economic life, Tilly and Tilly draw on institutional, Marxist, and organizational analyses to clarify how and why the social organization of work varies across settings and over time. Work situations ranging from seasonal farm work in Normandy to high-tech temps in Silicon Valley are described, compared, and employed to develop and explicate a general analytic framework to account for the divergent conditions under which work is carried out. This highly readable volume renews faith in the power of comparative sociology." W. Richard Scott, Stanford University
"Tilly and Tilly criticize standard economic models of work for their tendency to 'pluck [work] out of culture and history to make it placeless and timeless.' The structure of labor markets is in reality very much a product of history, and the authors demonstrate how attention to the historical and social context of work provides important insights into the employment relationship in contemporary capitalist societies. Rich with examples of their theoretical approach as applied to hiring, promotions, the earnings distribution, and similar topics, this book provides a useful counterpoint to behavioral approaches based on narrowly construed economic rationality." Thomas A. DiPrete, Duke University

Kids at Work : Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
Book by Russell Freedman, Lewis Hine
From Publishers Weekly - Hine photographed underprivileged child laborers from 1908-1918; their depleted faces look out from almost every page. "Freedman does an outstanding job of integrating historical photographs with meticulously researched and highly readable prose," said PW in a starred review. Ages 10-up. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Sociology of Education and Work
Book by David B. Bills
The Sociology of Education and Work is a clear and engaging study of the links between schooling and the workplace in modern society. It explains, in accessible and lively prose, how these links have developed over time, what broad social trends are transforming them now, and offers some empirically-based projections about how these relationships are likely to develop in the future. This book adopts a distinctly sociological perspective on these issues, while drawing on the disciplines of history, economics, demography, and policy analysis. It builds equally on the sociology of education and the sociology of work.
Using a series of concepts and models including meritocracy, credentialism, postindustrial society, and the permanently new economy, this book encourages students to think about these issues sociologically. To bring life into these concepts, case examples are included to show the ways in which school and work "come together" in contemporary society. This book has brought together a wide body of literature for students studying education and work throughout the curriculum.

The Transformation of Work (Research in the Sociology of Work)
Book by Steven Vallas
Analysts are generally agreed: dramatic changes are unfolding in the character of work, managerial authority, and the employment relationship. However, there is little agreement as to precisely how such changes are reshaping people's working lives, the nature of their careers, and the distribution of opportunity among members of different classes, genders, and ethnic groups. The Transformation of Work focuses on a series of critical questions concerned with the restructuring of work under contemporary capitalism. Written by leading social scientists in the field, the papers collected here address a wide array of workplace settings, from traditional manufacturing settings to "knowledge work" in high tech and university contexts. The volume devotes attention to the impact of new production concepts in various national settings, ranging from Germany to Mexico and Australia.

Globalism/Localism at Work, Volume 13 (Research in the Sociology of Work)
Book by Leni Beukema, Jorge Hector Carrillo Viveros
In this volume the focus is on the interrelations of the global and the local in their consequences for work. The process of restructuring of work is analyzed as an ongoing, locally situated process in which actors within work organizations play an important role. Nevertheless, when taking the context of work organizations into account, the increasing importance of the global on the local processes is obvious.

Diversity in the Work Force, Volume 14 (Research in the Sociology of Work)
Book by Nancy DiTomaso, Corinne Post
Increasing diversity in the workforce has several sources: (a) the changing demographic structure of the U.S., (b) the increased importance of globalization to profits and long term survival in many companies, and (c) changes in the structure of how work gets done. People bring with them into organizations the patterns of behavior and thinking, the networks, the social pressures, the habits, and strategies of action that they learned before joining the organization. Further, people are shaped by the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of others in regard to them. This volume of the Sociology of Work addresses a number of issues that are brought to the fore because of diversity in the workforce: the structure, impact, and mechanisms of social networks; the policies and political dynamics around trying to redistribute benefits among social groups; issues regarding work and family, especially for professional workers in male dominated jobs; and the link between diversity in the workforce and broader issues of inequality. This set of papers address many of the emerging empirical and theoretical work in the study of diversity in the workforce and create an agenda for future work in the area.

Ready-To-Wear and Ready-To-Work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York (Comparative and International Working-Class History) by Nancy L. Green
Reviewer: Michael J. Ryan (Milwaukee, WI USA)
I thoroughly enjoyed "Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work", Nancy L. Green's erudite and expansive study of a century of the garment industry in Paris and New York. I've worn clothes for most of my life, but never knew much about where they come from. Green's vastly-researched work is not only a history of the people, usually immigrants, often Jews, who have populated the garment industry. It is also a social history, an economic history and a technological history.

Sourcebook of Labor Markets : Evolving Structures and Processes (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Ivar Berg (Editor), Arne L. Kalleberg (Editor)
A distinguished roster of contributors considers the state of the art of the field at the turn of the 21st century and charts an ambitious agenda for the future. Following what the editors describe as an `evolutionist' approach to the study of labor markets, the chapters address issues of continuity and discontinuity in a wide range of topics including: markets and institutional structures; employment relations and work structures; patterns of stratification in the United States; and public policies, opportunity structures, and economic outcomes.

Analyzing the Labor Force: Concepts, Measures, and Trends (Plenum Studies in Work and Industry) Book by Clifford C. Clogg, Scott R. Eliason, Kevin T. Leicht
Clifford C. Clogg, a talented sociologist, demographer, and statistician, died suddenly on 7 May 1995 at the age of 45. Although best known for his methodological contributions, Clogg also made significant substantive contributions to the study of social stratification and the labor force.
This book highlights those contributions by telling the cumulative story of his research and adding update analysis that advances the story beyond the early 1980s to the mid-1990s.

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