Work occupies a pivotal role in the daily activities and over the course of a lifetime of members of modern societies. In anticipation, work influ­ ences education and training; it has much to do with shaping current earned income and status in the community; and in retrospect, it influ­ ences retirement income and activities. It is a powerful force affecting personal associations. In our society work is deeply encased in moral and religious values: As Poor Richard says, A Life of Leisure and a Life of Laziness are two Things. Do you imagine that Sloth will afford you more Comfort than Labour? No, for as Poor Richard says: ... Industry gives Comfort, and Plenty and Respect. Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. But few words have as many different meanings and nuances as "work": to forge or to shape, to stir or to knead, to solve, to exploit, to practice trickery for some end, to excite or to provoke, to persuade or to influence, to toil, and the like. A need for precision in meaning is requisite with respect to work, not only in common discourse, but, even more so, in scholarly communication.

Product Description: The economic boom of the 1990s veiled a grim reality: in addition to the growing gap between rich and poor, the gap between good and bad quality jobs was also expanding. The postwar prosperity of the mid-twentieth century had enabled millions of American workers to join the middle class, but as author Arne L...read more

Product Description: A distinguished roster of contributors considers the state of the art of the field at the turn of the 21st century and charts an ambitious agenda for the future. Following what the editors describe as an `evolutionist' approach to the study of labor markets, the chapters address issues of continuity and discontinuity in a wide range of topics including: markets and institutional structures; employment relations and work structures; patterns of stratification in the United States; and public policies, opportunity structures, and economic outcomes...read more

A blueprint for ending poverty in America, based on the philosophies of leading scholars, businesspeople, and activists and published in conjunction with the country's top anti-poverty centers, addresses a range of issues, from job creation and education to housing and family-friendly social policy.

Product Description: In this provocative new study, Arne L. Kalleberg examines how the now-common expectation that a career should at once provide fulfillment, challenge, meaning, and financial success is creating a growing number of “mismatched” workers―workers who fit poorly with their employers or careers...read more

Product Description: Though there are still just twenty-four hours in a day, society’s idea of who should be doing what and when has shifted. Time, the ultimate scarce resource, has become an increasingly contested battle zone in American life, with work, family, and personal obligations pulling individuals in conflicting directions...read more

Product Description: Aage Sorensen was an influential intellectual presence who was one of the world's leading authorities on social stratification and the sociology of education. His research sought to understand the structures, dynamics and mechanisms that underlie inequalities in industrial societies by focusing on how individuals' attainments are shaped by characteristics of a society's or organization's opportunity structure, on the one hand, and individuals' education, experience and other human capital resources, on the other...read more

Product Description: Much of the hoopla surrounding quality circles, teams, and high-performance work systems has been based on anecdotes and very thin evidence. It has not been established that those employee involvement strategies amount to anything more than another series of management fads or ruses designed to get more out of workers without giving them anything in return...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This volume presents an authoritative database on the workings of organizations in the United States. It describes the National Organizations Study, the first national survey of organizations in the US using a statistically representative sample...read more

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Based on a survey of the work attitudes and behaviour of Japanese and American employees, this book seeks to explain the greater motivation and commitment of the Japanese workforce. Is this attributable to the management of Japanese factories, or to deep-seated Japanese cultural values?