About the Future of Work Series

Few subjects could be judged more vital to current policy and academic debates than the prospects for work and employment. The Future of Work Series, edited by Professor Peter Nolan, provides the much needed evidence and theoretical advances to enhance our understanding of the critical developments most likely to impact on people’s working lives.

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Forthcoming Publications

Ethnicity and Gender at Work
Identity, Careers and Employment Relations
By Harriet Bradley and Geraldine Healy

Utilising an intersectional approach, this book demonstrates the way that the intersection of gendered and ethnic identities operate at work and home. It puts the British picture of gender and ethnicity in an international context by drawing in experiences, data and policy insights from the US and Europe.

June 2008 Hardback £55.00

The Realities of Partnership at Work
By Martin Upchurch, Andy Danford, Michael Richardson, and Stephanie Tailby

The promotion of social partnership and management techniques of the high performance workplace has become central to the political agenda of 'modernization' at work. Policies aimed at 'democratizing' the workplace by way of new forms of employee participation and co-operative industrial relations can, it is argued, offer firms a 'high road' to market competitiveness and business success. This book questions such assumptions.

October 2008 Hardback £55.00

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Recent Publications

The Meaning of Work in the New Economy
By Chris Baldry, Peter Bain, Philip Taylor, Jeff Hyman, Dora Scholarios, Abigail Marks, Aileen Watson, Kay Gilbert, Gregor Gall and Dirk Bunzel

This book analyzes the multiple levels of meaning which people attach to work today, and the role of work in people's lives. By looking at call centres and software development, the book evaluates some of the claims made for the knowledge economy and argues that defining the work-life boundary is a constant problem for many workers

March 2007 Hardback £63.00

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Previous Titles in the Series

Cash for Care in Developed Welfare States
Edited by Clare Ungerson and Susan Yeandle

In many developed welfare states, consumers of social services are increasingly given money rather than services so that they can buy in their own care. This book explores the implications of these trends, not just for the older consumers but also for the workers involved, through cross-national case studies.

December 2006 Hardback £63.00

Partnership and the High Performance Workplace
Work and Employment Relations in the Aerospace Industry
By Andy Danford , Michael Richardson, Paul Stewart, Stephanie Tailby and Martin Upchurch

The promotion of workplace partnership in the high performance workplace has become central to policy debates on the 'modernization' of employment relations in British industry. This book provides critical insights into the dynamics of partnership by way of in-depth case studies of employee experience in an under-researched industry noted for its high concentrations of skilled workers and graduates. Drawing on rich interview and questionnaire data, the authors highlight considerable conflicts of interest in the development of partnership that derive from the competitive capitalist environment in which management strategies operate.

August 2005 Hardback £60.00

Labour in a Global World
Case Studies from the White Goods Industry in Africa, South America, East Asia and Europe
By Theo Nichols and Surhan Cam

This book gets behind much generality about globalisation to examine the production of relatively familiar commodities such as refrigerators and ovens in different countries. By considering a range of countries - China, Taiwan and South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey - it makes a substantive contribution to the understanding of the diffusion of management methods, the role of the state in employee relations, the nature of trade unionism and the impact of social structure on production relations.

June 2005 Hardback £60.00

Work-Life Balance in the 21st Century
Edited by Diane Houston

As we begin the twenty-first century, UK employees work the longest hours in Europe. Workplace stress and home responsibilities are among the top five causes of absence from work. Yet work-life balance has emerged as a key concern for employers, policy makers and the media. This edited volume contains findings from 14 research projects within the ESRC's Future of Work Programme. The research examines the notion of employment flexibility and the effects of gender and care responsibilities on work and work performance. Conflicting needs of employers and employees and the gender divisions in work and family life call into question the feasibility of achieving the Government's aim of work-life balance for everyone.

April 2005 Hardback £60.00

Employment, Trade Union Renewal and the Future of Work
The Experience of Work and Organisational Change
Edited by Paul Stewart

This book examines the relationship between the experience of employment and changing organizational forms, boundaries and the context of work. It explores a range of critical sociological and political economy processes in the context of workplace restructuring, employment and labour market regulation in the wider community. Of significant importance are the themes of gendered and ethically embedded labour markets for young people, trade union and local activism, gendered identity in management, market turbulence and call centres. The book offers an international perspective that includes chapters based on case work from the UK and Turkey.

November 2004 Hardback £68.00

Future of Worker Representation
Edited by Geraldine Healy, Edmund Heery, Philip Taylor and William Brown

A representation gap has appeared in the British workplace as trade unions have declined. This book presents original research material from the ESRC's Future of Work programme to assess current attempts to close the representation gap. Part One examines initiatives to restore the fortunes of the trade union movement through organizing, partnership and the representation of minorities in the workforce. Part Two looks at non-union representation and the role that works councils, voluntary organizations and single-issue campaigns can play in giving British workers a new voice at work.

September 2004 Hardback £60.00

Working and Caring over the Twentieth Century
Change and Continuity in Four-Generation Families
By Julia Brannen, Peter Moss and Ann Mooney

Increased longevity and better health are changing the nature of family life. In the context of changes in the world of work, increased divorce and a declining welfare state, multi-generation or 'beanpole families' are a potential resource for family support. Focusing on four-generation families and the two central careers of the life course - employment and care - Working and Caring Over the Twentieth Century explores this question. Based upon new research that employed biographical methods, it maps in detail from 1910 to the late 1990s the lives of men and women as great-grandparents, grandparents and parents. The book provides unique insights into processes of change and continuity in family lives and the ways in which different generations of men and women make sense of their lives.

September 2004 Hardback £60.00

Managing To Change?
British Workplaces and the Future of Work
By Michael White, Stephen Hill, Colin Mills and Deborah Smeaton

This book presents new and authoritative evidence about change at the workplace, using it to cast light on recent debates about the future of work. The basic questions it poses are whether, and how, British workplaces are responding to the challenge of change, and what are the implications of change both for managers and employees. Using up-to-date information from 2000 workplaces, it provides a realistic basis for envisaging the changes through the first decade of the 21st century. It is accessible to a wide audience of policy makers, managers, professionals, students and academics.

May 2004 Hardback £60.00

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If you would like to write a book for the series or have suggestions for further titles please contact the Senior Commissioning Editor for Business and Management, Virginia Thorp v.thorpe@palgrave.com

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