The Sociology of Work, 2nd Edition: Continuity and Change in Paid and Unpaid Work

Steve Edgell has written an up-to-date, comprehensive guide to the sociology of every type of work: paid and unpaid, standard and non-standard, under- and unemployment. Sweeping in its historical reach and rigorous in its analysis of key issues of work, this book charts the rise of `work′ from the first human societies and provides nuanced understanding of the issues at stake in standard, non-standard, unpaid and voluntary work. Drawing on classic and contemporary theorists, the author:

- covers key issues regarding paid work: alienation, post-industrial society, network enterprises in the informational society, flexibility, Fordism, McDonaldization, the destandardization of work, and the social impact of unemployment and underemployment;

- discusses key issues regarding non-paid work: domestic work as `work′, the impact of technology, the impact of feminism, feminization and globalization;

- offers a historical perspective of work and gender.

′The overall sweep of the book – from pre-capitalist/industrial to post-globalism is attractive and challenging. The extension of the study of work beyond paid office/factory work is to be welcomed. In short this book will make a wise and welcomed addition to the existing range of sociological texts.′ - Professor Huw Beynon, Director School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University

′Stephen Edgell′s Sociology of Work is a reliable, comprehensive and accessible text. He has taken a number of central themes in this field and engaged with the relevant literature and debates in a thoughtful and authoritative way. The comparative and historical treatment of the topics offers an illuminating perspective on the contemporary world of work. Students will find this book to be an invaluable resource. I predict that their copies will become much thumbed and annotated!′ - John Eldridge, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Glasgow.

Stephen Edgell is a Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Salford, England. He has undertaken qualitative research Middle Class Couples: A Study of Segregation, Domination and Inequality in Marriage (Allen & Unwin, 1980), quantitative research A Measure of Thatcherism: A Sociology of Britain (Unwin Hyman, 1991, co-author Vic Duke), and archival research Veblen in Perspective: His Life and Thought (Taylor & Francis, 2001), and has published numerous articles in a wide-range of British, American and European social science journals. A career-long interest in the sociology of work culminated in the publication of a textbook entitled The Sociology of Work: Continuity and Change in Paid and Unpaid Work in 2006 and a revised 2nd edition in 2012. He is the co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment (2016), along with Heidi Gottfried and Edward Granter.