Putting Work in Its Place: A Quiet Revolution (Collection on Technology and Work) - Softcover

Meiksins, Peter; Whalley, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801489520 ISBN 13: 9780801489525

Publisher: ILR Press, 2004

Synopsis

Most books on the subject of work focus on the increased amount of time Americans spend on the job. Peter Meiksins and Peter Whalley address the counter-trend, examining the difficult path traversed by people who choose to work less than the standard, forty-hour week. Their fascinating investigation of alternative work arrangements speaks directly to the concerns of all workers who must balance career with other commitments.

Through interviews with technical professionals from a wide range of employment settings, Putting Work in Its Place refutes the popular myth of the customized work schedule as inevitably a "mommy-track" or a return to traditionalism among women. Most of these workers―male and female, young and old―remain strongly committed to their jobs, but wish to combine work with other activities they value just as highly. This can mean family for some, but for others encompasses community service or various avocations.

By viewing their work arrangements in the longer term, and not as short-term expedients, these professionals are challenging the accepted view of time requirements for careers in organizations. They are also helping to shape a new agenda for the future of the workplace: to transform their individual successes into a normal practice of customized work time.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Meiksins is Professor of Sociology at Cleveland State University. He is the coauthor, with Chris Smith, of Engineering Labor: Technical Workers in Comparative Perspective. Peter Whalley is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Loyola University, Chicago, and the author of The Social Production of Technical Work: The Case of British Engineers. Stephen R. Barley is the coeditor, with Julian Orr, of Between Craft and Science: Technical Work in the United States, also from Cornell.

Edition details

• Publisher: ILR Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801489520
• ISBN 13: 9780801489525
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208