Ordinary Work: Ethnographies of Life Beyond Wages Labour

Recent developments in the organization of work and production have facilitated the decline of wage employment in many regions of the world. However, the idea of the wage continues to dominate the political imaginations of governments, researchers and activists, based on the historical experiences of industrial workers in the global North.

This edited collection revitalises debates on the future of work by challenging the idea of wage employment as the global norm. Taking theoretical inspiration from the global South, the authors compare lived experiences of ‘ordinary work’ across taken-for-granted conceptual and geographical boundaries; from Cambodian brick kilns to Catalonian cooperatives. Their contributions open up new possibilities for how work, identity and security might be woven together differently.

This volume is an invaluable resource for academics, students and readers interested in alternative and emerging forms of work around the world.

William Monteith is Lecturer in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London.

Dora-Olivia Vicol is Director of the Work Rights Centre, a charity dedicated to employment justice.

Philippa Williams is Professor of Geography at Queen Mary University of London.