States alongside the somewhat different realities of work in Western Europe and elsewhere. We also compare the experience of workers laboring today with those laboring in the mid-twentieth century and earlier, and we explore the American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy and emerging global networks of trade.
Chapter 1, “Mapping the Contours of Work,” offers an introduction to the sociology of work and the unique contributions sociological analysis brings to the understanding of the changing economy. Our concern in this chapter is not so much to detail the nature of work in the new economy, or how changes in work have happened, but rather to indicate what needs to be examined if one is to understand work, society, and social change today. To do this, we outline observations sociologists have made about the ways culture, social structure, and agency shape the opportunity to work and the careers of workers. We introduce this chapter by describing the challenges faced by six workers laboring in the new economy. These individuals illuminate the diversity of workers’ experiences and how the transition to a new economy is affecting career prospects and introducing distinct strains into family lives.
Chapter 2, “New Products, New Ways of Working, and the New Economy,” considers the changing patterns of what is produced and how production occurs. In this chapter, we consider the implications of concerns such as deindustrialization, the rise of service sector employment, and changing organizational designs and technologies. The primary question we consider here is the extent to which the new economy differs from the old economy in respect to what is created and the labor processes and practices involved in production. This chapter is designed primarily to illuminate why we have concluded that the old economy operates within a new economy.
Chapter 3, “Economic Inequality, Social Mobility, and the New Economy,” examines the economic returns received from work and how work opportunity gives shape to the class structure of society. The analysis reveals sobering signs that economic transformations are contributing to a divided economy, one that sustains a two-tiered division between good jobs and bad jobs and one that is funneling substantial shares of the returns of work to a privileged elite. We also consider how the movement of “good jobs” from the United States affects the life chances of workers in emerging economies, as well as more peripheral areas of the global economy.
Chapter 4, “Whose Jobs Are Secure?” and Chapter 5, “A Fair Day’s Work? The Intensity and Scheduling of Jobs in the New Economy,” consider how security and time commitments to work have changed. We first show the ways work designs in the new economy are contributing to widening job insecurity. Our interest here is not just to detail the extent of risk present today, but also to show how social policies implemented in the old economy set workers up to bear the burden of risk, often at the expense of their families and careers. Chapter 5 extends this history of the present by examining trends in the time spent working and the intensity of work. Here, we discuss the question of why American workers are working more than they did in the past, more than workers in almost every other society, and in many instances, more than they want to. We also consider the implications of work in a 24/7 economy and the impact nonstandard schedules have on family lives.
Chapter 6, “Gender Chasms in the New Economy,” examines the issue of gender inequalities at work. We revisit the fundamental question of what constitutes work and why women’s contributions to society are commonly defined as something other than “real work” or not worthy of compensation commensurate to that received by men. We also consider the extent to which gender inequalities are disappearing in the new economy and detail why many inequalities persist. We conclude this chapter by examining the approach to handling care work in the United States, how it departs from the approaches used in Western Europe, and its impact on both the quality of care and women’s life chances.
Chapter 7, “Race, Ethnicity, and Work: Legacies of the Past, Problems in the Present,” examines the proposition that race might be of declining significance in the new economy. We show that racial inequalities persist but that there are important differences in the ways various minority groups have responded to, and are being treated in, the new economy. We also detail the dominant reasons why racial and ethnic inequalities exist today. Because race continues to be a major policy concern, we consider two of the most pressing debates: the controversies about affirmative action programs and the impact of immigration on opportunity structures.
Chapter 8, “Reshaping the Contours of the New Economy,” outlines what needs to change if work is to become a positive experience for all and how opportunities might be distributed more equitably in the new economy. Basing our recommendations on what has been done in other developed societies, we try to offer realistic goals that, if fulfilled, would enhance opportunity and life quality. We also acknowledge that the dehumanizing, unjust aspects of work in the new economy are unlikely to change by themselves and that positive steps must be taken to promote improvements. A variety of agents—including individuals, interest groups, unions, corporations, and government entities—will all need to play a role in reshaping work. In the end, we suggest that government intervention will be the key to bringing the expectations of employers in line with what should be expected of workers. Its level of engagement will hinge on the ability of individuals, activist groups, and unions to exert sufficient pressures.
Our hope is that this book will help readers to understand the origins of current problems confronting working people in the new economy. Beyond this, we hope this book will contribute to a much-needed dialogue about the strategies for liberating workers from poverty, from drudgery, from discrimination, from stress, and from exploitation.
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of the contributions of numerous people, from those who cut the trees, milled them into paper, drove the paper to our offices, designed our computers, filled our libraries with books (or at least electronic links to books!), fed us and our children, and heated our offices, to those who printed and delivered the book to your hands. Our intellectual efforts stand on the shoulders of the giants in the field, individuals who introduced the ideas we tried to advance and to whom our thoughts are indebted. We also relied on the efforts of the numerous researchers and officials who collected and organized the data we use to outline changes in work and opportunity. Here, we can only express our appreciation to those with whom we formed close interpersonal ties.
Our colleagues and mentors—including Cynthia Duncan, Phyllis Moen, Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, and Peter Whalley—offered valuable guidance by directing our attention to the issues that need to be addressed and what to look for. Reviewers Judith Barker, Elizabeth Callaghan, William Canak, Carol Caronna, Marc Dixon, Linda Geller-Schwartz, Heidi Gottfried, Judith Hennessy, Martin Hughes, Arne Kalleberg, Charles Koeber, Kevin Leicht, Joya Misra, Cynthia Negrey, Vincent Roscigno, Gay Seidman, and Patrick Withen provided the sharp criticism that the book needed in its formation. Marissa Cardwell, Hillary Gozigian, and Stacy Sauppe offered insightful students’ eye views of the manuscript and helped us bring the manuscript together. Students in our graduate and undergraduate classes at Ithaca College and Cleveland State University, many of whom also are experienced workers in the new economy, raised questions that stimulated our thinking for this book. We also thank the incredibly supportive team at SAGE, including our editor, Joshua Perigo. Additional thanks to production editor Bennie Clark Allen and to copy editor Lana Arndt.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provided support for the study of job insecurities (B2001–50, Stephen Sweet and Phyllis Moen, co-principal investigators). In addition to Kathleen Christensen at the Sloan Foundation, we extend thanks to Yasamin Diciccio-Miller, Akshay Gupta, and the staff of the Cornell Careers Institute for their contributions to the Couples Managing Change Study.
Finally, we express gratitude to our spouses, Jai and Joyce, who gave us much-appreciated time to devote to this project, listened to our struggles, and offered their perspectives and guidance throughout.
SAGE also wishes to thank the following reviewers for their kind assistance:
John Castella, Rutgers University
Hinda Seif, University of Illinois at Springfield
Paula B. Voos, Rutgers University
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