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RESTRUCTURING

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2011

Usually refers to the re-organization and rationalization of administration and production in both public and private sectors.

In the public sector it has been encouraged by growing deficits, in the private sector cost cutting and reorganization has been encouraged by high interest rates, recession and lower corporate profit margins.

ORGANIZATIONAL RESTRUCTURING AND ITS CONSEQUENCES: Rhetorical and Structural
Paul M. Hirsch, Kellogg School of Management
Michaela De Soucey, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208; email: paulhirsch@kellogg.northwestern.edu, m-desoucey@northwestern.edu
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 32: 171-189 (Volume publication date August 2006) (doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123146)
Abstract: In this review, we examine the idea of organizational restructuring as a conceptual tool and how it has been used to alter societal definitions and interpretations of employment. Although use of the term restructuring is relatively recent, the broad issue of changing employment conditions with which it is concerned has a long history, going back to the industrial revolution. Our main focus is a consideration of the causes and consequences of restructuring, in its more recent rhetorical and structural versions. In their pursuit of greater efficiencies, organizations adapt to the demands of increasingly global markets, and these adaptations are crucial components of what is popularly referred to as the new economy. Such developments are applauded in most economic theory, but sociologists examine both sides of their social impact, including the adverse effects and implications of such externalities as the social disruptions caused by downsizing and other organizational and corporate changes. These studies provide important contributions to our knowledge of how much, and when, promises of organizational efficiency are in fact deliverable and responsive to those affected by them. We argue that the language of restructuring is regularly used to mask, reframe, and sugarcoat economic slumps as possessing positive social outcomes. We conclude by positioning restructuring as an important component of the current American export of managerial ideology to transnational contexts and suggest further examination of how restructuring affects the culture of business in these other national contexts. - arjournals.annualreviews.org

RESTRUCTURING DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGICAL PLURALISM 
T. K. Oommen 
International Sociology, Vol. 7, No. 2, 131-139 (1992) DOI: 10.1177/026858092007002001 © 1992 International Sociological Association
Abstract: An attempt to understand and analyse the relationship between technology and development must focus attention on human actions within the framework of societal priorities and social values. World history as well as present-day international development show the necessity of finding a viable praxis for what the author calls `Appropriate Technologies'. Ten precautions should be seriously observed: (1) to develop low-energy life-styles, one should take care to (2) avoid radical alternatives between developments old and new. There (3) is a need for a philosophy of life capable of decentralising development projects. This should (4) discard the false dichotomy between the urban and the rural, which only supported (5) the cults of affluence and destructive consumerism. Precaution (6) should sharpen the awareness of false conceptions of modernisation in favour of (7) indigenous forces, (8) native and (9) religious traditions. Thus development regains (10) its inner fortitude to partake in universal processes of humanisation. - iss.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/131

Rediscovering Families and Households: Restructuring Rural Society and Rural Sociology.
Bokemeier, Janet L.
Rural Sociology, v62 n1 p1-20 Spr 1997
Abstract: Extends the debate on rural restructuring by redefining families and households and their study; by considering the contributions of family scholarship to rural sociological issues; by assessing the methodological implications and challenges of integrating a family focus in rural sociology; and by reengaging rural sociology around important policy issues. Contains 80 references. - eric.ed.gov

Global Restructuring and Territorial Development 
Edited by: Jeffrey Henderson University of Manchester, UK 
Manuel Castells History, University of California, Berkeley 
Description: 
This original collection builds towards a new theory of spatial development, in the context of a new and dynamic era of capitalism. Economic restructuring is no longer limited to the nation-state, but is now seen on a global level. The distinguished contributors to this volume examine global economic dynamics and place these dynamics in their historical context. Throughout, specific studies present evidence and sketch the contours and dynamics of this new socio-territorial world. This exceptional work makes an important contribution to our understanding of both the processes of global restructuring and their consequences for urban and regional development. It will be essential reading for scholars and students in sociology, economics, political science, human geography, planning, urban and regional studies, and development studies. "This work makes a contribution to our understanding of both the processes of global restructuring and their consequences for urban and regional development." --Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society - sagepub.com

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