Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sociology of Work: From Industrial Sociology to Work, Employment and the Economy

  • Chapter
The Palgrave Handbook of Sociology in Britain

Abstract

The history of the sociology of work in Britain up to about 1990 could have been written as a reasonably straightforward narrative of successive themes and analytical improvement, albeit characterised by debate between broadly Weberian and Marxian approaches. Such a story has been increasingly contested since that time, reflecting the rise of the third main analytical approach, that shaped by postmodernism. I therefore begin at the end, outlining the nature of the dispute and then reviewing the historical record in light of it.

I am very grateful to Duncan Gallie for comments on a previous draft.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Armstrong, P. (1983) ’Class Relationships at the Point of Production’, Sociology 17: 339–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldamus, W. (1961) Efficiency and Effort. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldry, C. et al. (2007) The Meaning of Work in the New Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2000) The Brave New World of Work. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélanger, J. and Edwards, P. (2007) ‘The Conditions Promoting Compromise in the Workplace’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 45: 713–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beynon, H. (1973) Working for Ford. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn, R. and Mann, M. (1979) The Working Class in the Labour Market. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R.K. (1992) Understanding Industrial Organisations, London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R.K. and Brannen, P. (1970) ‘Social Relations and Social Perspectives amongst Shipbuilding Workers’, Sociology 4: 71–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bulmer, M. (ed.) (1975) Working Class Images of Society. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, T. and Stalker, G.M. (1961) The Management of Innovation. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavendish, R. (1982) Women on the Line. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, I. (2009) ‘Owners and Managers Disconnecting Managerial Capitalism? Understanding the Private-Equity Business Model’, Work, Employment and Society 23: 775–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cockburn, C. (1983) Brothers. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cockburn, C. (1985) Machinery of Dominance. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crompton, R., and Jones, G. (1984) White-collar Proletariat. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crompton, R.; Brockmann, M. and Lyonette, C. (2005) ‘Attitudes, Women’s Employment and the Domestic Division of Labour’, Work, Employment and Society 19: 213–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crouch, C. (2005) Capitalist Diversity and Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Devine, F. (1992) Affluent Workers Revisited. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dex, S. (1988) ‘Gender and the Labour Market’, in D. Gallie (ed.), Employment in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dore, R. (1973) British Factory, Japanese Factory. London: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dore, R. (1990) ‘Where We Are Now’, Work, Employment and Society, 3: 425–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, P. (2005) ‘The Puzzle of Work: Insecurity and Stress and Autonomy and Commitment’, in A.F. Heath, J. Ermisch and D. Gallie (eds), Understanding Social Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, P. (2010) ‘Developing Labour Process Analysis’, in P. Thompson and C. Smith eds, Working Life. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, C. (1990) ‘The Cultural Perspective and the Study of Work’, in K. Erikson and S.P. Vallas (eds), The Nature of Work. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagan, C., and Rubery, J. (1996) ‘The Salience of the Part-time Divide in Europe’, European Sociological Review 12: 227–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, P., and Spicer, A. (2007) Contesting the Corporation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, A.L. (1977) Industry and Labour. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, A.L. (2004) ‘Strawmanning and Labour Process Analysis’, Sociology 38: 573–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D. (1978) In Search of the New Working Class. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D. (1983) Social Inequality and Class Radicalism in France and Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D. (1988) ’Introduction’, in D. Gallie (ed.), Employment in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D.; White, M.; Cheng, Y. and Tomlinson, M. (1998) Restructuring the Employment Relationship. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D. (ed.) (2007) Employment Regimes and the Quality of Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallie, D.; Zhou, Y.; Felstead, A. and Green, F. (2009) ‘Teamwork, Productive Potential and Employee Welfare’, Research Paper 84, SKOPE. Available at www.skope.ox.ac.uk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glucksmann, M. (1995) ‘Why “Work”? Gender and the “Total Social Organization of Labour”’, Gender, Work and Organization 2: 63–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glucksmann, M. (2000) Cottons and Casuals. Durham: Sociologypress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glucksmann, M. (2004) ‘Call Connections’, Work, Employment and Society 18: 795–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldthorpe, J.H.; Lockwood, D.; Bechhofer, F. and Platt, J. (1968) The Affluent Worker: Industrial Attitudes and Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hales, C. (2005) ‘Rooted in Supervision, Branching into Management’, Journal of Management Studies 42: 471–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halford, S. and Strangleman, T. (2009) ‘In Search of the Sociology of Work’, Sociology 43: 811–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P.A. and Soskice, D. (2001) Varieties of Capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hyman, R. (1987) ‘Strategy or Structure? ’Work, Employment and Society 1: 25–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, R. (1986) Racism and Recruitment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T., and Ram, M. (2011) ‘Ethnic Variations in the Small Firm labour Process’, International Small Business Journal 28: 163–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. (1978) ‘A Reappraisal of Sociotechnical Theory’, Human Relations 31: 1069–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C.; Dunlop, J.T.; Harbison, F. and Myers, C.A. (1960) Industrialism and Industrial Man. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (1989) ‘Power and Subjectivity at Work’, Sociology 23: 535–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (eds) (2000) The Reengineering Revolution. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korczynski, M. (2002) Human Resource Management in Service Work. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korczynski, M.: (2005) ’The Point of Selling Capitalism, Consumption and Contradictions’, Organization 12: 69–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littler, C.R. (1982) The Development of the Labour Process in Capitalist Societies. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Littler, C.R. and Salaman, G. (1982) ‘Bravermania and Beyond’, Sociology 16: 251–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, D. (1958) The Blackcoated Worker. London: George Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, D. (1989) The Blackcoated Worker, 2nd edition. Oxford: Clarendon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, R. (1994) ‘Fiddly Jobs, Undeclared Work and the Something for Nothing Society’, Work, Employment and Society 8: 507–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGovern, P.; Hill, S.; Mills, C. and White, M. (2007) Market, Class and Employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marchington, M.; Grimshaw, D.; Rubery, J. and Willmott, H. (eds) (2005) Fragmenting Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newby, H. (1977) The Deferential Worker. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, T. and Beynon, H. (1977) Living with Capitalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pahl, R.E. (1984) Divisions of Labour. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollert, A. (1981) Girls, Wives, Factory Lives. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez, P. and Rainbird, H. (2010) ‘Making the Connections: Bringing Skill Formation into Global Value Chain Analysis’, Work, Employment and Society 24: 699–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ram, M. (1994) Managing to Survive. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scase, R. and Goffee, R. (1989) Reluctant Managers. London: Unwin Hyman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. (1985) Corporations, Classes and Capitalism. London: Hutchinson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W.H.; Halsey, A.H.; Banks, J.A. and Lupton, T. (1956) Technical Change and Industrial Relations. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W.H.; Mumford, E.; McGivering, I.C. and Kirkby, J.M. (1963) Coal and Conflict. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sklair, L. (2001) The Transnational Capitalist Class. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sofer, C. (1970) Men in Mid-Career. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W. (1987) ‘The Uncertainties of Management in the Management of Uncertainty’, Work, Employment and Society 1: 281–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, P. and Bain, P. (2007) ‘Reflections on the Call Centre’, Work, Employment and Society 21: 349–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, R. and Davies, R. (2005) ‘What Have the Feminists Done for Us? Feminist Theory and Organizational Resistance’, Organization 12: 711–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (1989) The Nature of Work, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (2003) ‘Disconnected Capitalism’, Work, Employment and Society 17: 359–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. and McHugh, D. (2002) Work Organisations, 3rd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. and Smith, C. (2009) ‘Labour Power and Labour Process’, Sociology 43: 913–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trist, E.L. and Bamforth, K.W. (1951) ‘Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal Getting’, Human Relations 4: 3–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • University of Liverpool (Department of Social Science) (1954) The Dock Worker. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wajcman, J. (1998) Managing Like a Man. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, T. (1981) In Search of Management. London: Thomson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, C.C. and Nadin, S. (2012) ‘Work beyond Employment’, Work, Employment and Society 26: 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, J. (1965) Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Paul Edwards
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, UK

    John Holmwood

  2. University of Copenhagen, Denmark

    John Scott

Copyright information

© 2014 Paul Edwards

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Edwards, P. (2014). The Sociology of Work: From Industrial Sociology to Work, Employment and the Economy. In: Holmwood, J., Scott, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sociology in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137318862_22

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation