The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment. Edited by Stephen Edgell, Heidi Gottfried and Edward Grantner (eds) (2016), London: Sage Publications. 708 pp. £110.00

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12078
• Author: David Devins
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Date: 01 July 2017

188 New Technology, Work and Employment © 2017 Brian Towers (BRITOW) and

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

New Technology, Work and Employment 32:2

ISSN 0268-1072

Book Review

The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Work and Employment

Stephen Edgell, Heidi Gottfried and Edward Grantner (eds) (2016), London: Sage

Publications. 708 pp. £110.00

The world of work and employment is different than it was 10 or even 5 years

ago, and not just because of the recession or stage of the economic cycle we find

ourselves in. Globalisation, demographic changes, digital advances and more so-

phisticated consumer preferences have shifted the way that we produce and col-

laborate, transforming the workplace and with it our lives. Evolving employment

regulations and the restructuring of welfare state institutions contribute to a re-

duction in social protection and exacerbate inequality and poverty for many in

and out of paid work in the labour market.

These issues and others are explored in the comprehensive Sage Handbook of

the Sociology of Work and Employment. The editors have compiled an impressive

collection of contributions from leading authors in the field with 32 professors

and 12 leading researchers from four continents contributing to 35 chapters that

provide context, insightful analysis and conclusions that will be of interest to

scholars, students and policy makers. The contributions are organised in six parts—

each with five to seven chapters.

The first part, Historical Context and Social Divisions charts the emergence of

sociology as an academic discipline. It considers how sociologists have theorised

and analysed the changing nature of work and employment related to social

divisions, such as, class, gender and race since the classic contributions of Marx,

Weber and Durkheim. These chapters include contributions from Tim Strangleman,

Tracey Warren and Harriet Bradley and reflect widely documented increases in

inequality that influence contemporary policy and academic discourse.

Analysis and discussion of the struggle between the forces of capital and labour,

the promise of a shift from management to leadership, dignity and misbehaviour at

work are all themes represented in the second part of the Handbook—The Experience

of Work. Labour process theory features strongly in contributions that highlight a

social system with conflict between labour and capital at its core. These chapters,

with contributions from influential academics including Arne Kalleberg, Leo McCann,

Stephen Ackroyd, Paul Thompson, Chris Smith and Alan Felstead point to labour

markets becoming increasingly polarised in terms of the quality of jobs available,

where the balance of power and influence has shifted away from labour towards

capital’s agents in the form of organisational managers and leaders.

The third part of the Handbook, Work and Organization, includes contributions

from Charles Heckscher, Mats Alvesson and Kiran Mirchandani who chart the

demise of the ‘golden age’ of Fordism, the rise of service work and neo- liberal

globalisation. The changing shape of organisations and the shifting demands of

their employees are central concerns. The need for new frameworks and more

nuanced multifaceted understandings of service work and the organisation of

workers are highlighted. The contributions in this section continue to develop the

overarching theme in the Handbook—that these changes have been to the disad-

vantage of labour and the advantage of capital.

The theme is further reflected in part 4 of the Handbook—Non-standard Forms

of Work and Employment where uncertainty, instability, vulnerability and insecurity