Skip to main content

Socio-Economic Changes and the Reorganization of Work

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Job Demands in a Changing World of Work

Abstract

This chapter traces three central socio-economic developments, namely financialization , the network economy and digitalization, and points out how these changes are closely interlinked with recent transformations in work and employment often referred to as precarization , blurring the boundaries of work and contradictory dynamics of work organization . Overall, the dominance of financial markets , digitalization and the global network economy may give rise to greater autonomy and responsibilities for workers, but have also induced companies to standardize and casualize work. In addition, social institutions that previously regulated and delimited work, such as the standard employment relationship , are eroding, and pre-carious working conditions and atypical employment are reaching the middle classes . Further research is needed to explore how workers can cope with these developments.

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

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
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

References

  • Adler, P. S. (2005). The evolving object of software development. Organization, 12, 401–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aulenbacher, B., & Riegraf, B. (2009). Markteffizienz und Ungleichheit - Zwei Seiten einer Medaille? Klasse/Schicht, Geschlecht und Ethnie im Übergang zur postfordistischen Arbeitsgesellschaft. In B. Aulenbacher & A. Wetterer (Eds.), Arbeit. Perspektiven und Diagnosen der Geschlechterforschung. Forum Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung. Bd. 25 (pp. 230–248). Münster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baethge, M. (1991). Arbeit, Vergesellschaftung, Identität. Zur zunehmenden normativen Subjektivierung der Arbeit. Soziale Welt, 42, 6–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bain, P., Watson, A., Mulvey, G., Taylor, P., & Gall, G. (2002). Taylorism, targets and the pursuit of quantity and quality by call centre management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 17, 170–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrientos, S., Gereffi, G., & Rossi, A. (2011). Economic and social upgrading in global production networks: A new paradigm for a changing world. International Labour Review, 150, 319–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braverman, H. (1974). Labor and monopoly capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. New York [u.a.]: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodt, T. L., & Verburg, R. M. (2007). Managing mobile work–insights from European practice. New Technology, Work and Employment, 22, 52–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, M. (1979). Manufacturing consent. Changes in the labor process under monopoly capitalism. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, B., Danford, A., Howcroft, D., Richardson, H., Smith, A., & Taylor, P. (2013). ’Stressed out of my box’: Employee experience of lean working and occupational ill-health in clerical work in the UK public sector. Work, Employment & Society, 27, 747–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castel, R. (2002). From manual workers to wage laborers: Transformation of the social question. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castel, R., & Dörre, K. (Eds.). (2009). Prekarität, Abstieg, Ausgrenzung. Die soziale Frage am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2010a). Globalisation, networking, urbanisation: Reflections on the spatial dynamics of the information age. Urban Studies, 47, 2737–2745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2010b). The rise of the network society. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crouch, C., & Streeck, W. (Eds.). (1997). Political economy of modern capitalism. Mapping convergence and diversity. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deeg, R. (2012). Financialisation and models of capitalism. A comparison of the UK and Germany. In C. Lane & G. T. Wood (Eds.), Capitalist diversity and diversity within capitalism (pp. 121–149). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, R. (1981). Herrschaft im modernen Produktionsprozess. Frankfurt am Main, New York: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichmann, H., & Saupe, B. (2014). Überblick über Arbeitsbedingungen in Österreich. Follow-up-Studie. Sozialpolitische Studienreihe. Band 15. Wien: BMASK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, G. A. (Ed.). (2005). Financialization and the world economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eurofound. (2015). First findings: Sixth European working conditions survey. URL: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1568en.pdf. Accessed March 2016.

  • Felstead, A. (2005). Changing places of work. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Felstead, A., Jewson, N., & Walters, S. (2003). Managerial control of employees working at home. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41, 241–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flecker, J. (2009). Outsourcing, spatial relocation and the fragmentation of employment. Competition & Change, 13, 251–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flecker, J. (Ed.). (2016). Space, place and global digital work. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flecker, J., & Meil, P. (2010). Organisational restructuring and emerging service value chains—implications for work and employment. Work, Employment & Society, 24, 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flecker, J., & Schönauer, A. (2016). The production of ‘placelessness’—digital service work in global value chains. In J. Flecker (Ed.), Space, place and global digital work. London: Palgrave Macmillan (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Frade, C., & Darmon, I. (2005). New modes of business organization and precarious employment: Towards a recommodification of labour? Journal of European Social Policy, 15, 21–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, A. (1977). Industry and labour: Class struggle at work and monopoly capitalism. London: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J., & Sturgeon, T. (2005). The governance of global value chains. Review of International Political Economy, 12, 78–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gold, M., & Mustafa, M. (2013). ‘Work always wins’: Client colonisation, time management and the anxieties of connected freelancers. New Technology, Work and Employment, 28, 197–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottschall, K., & Voß, G. (Eds.). (2003). Entgrenzung von Arbeit und Leben. Arbeit und Leben im Umbruch. München [u.a.]: Hampp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halford, S. (2005). Hybrid workspace: Re-spatialisations of work, organisation and management. New Technology, Work and Employment, 20, 19–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. (2001). Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (1982). The limits to capital. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heiden, M., & Jürgens, K. (2013). Kräftemessen. Betriebe und Beschäftige im Reproduktionskonflikt. Berlin: Edition Sigma.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, J., & Roth, R. (1986). Das neue Gesicht des Kapitalismus. Vom Fordismus zum Postfordismus. Hamburg: VSA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirst, A. (2011). Settlers, vagrants and mutual indifference: Unintended consequences of hot-desking. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 24, 767–788.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holts, K. (2013). Towards a taxonomy of virtual work. Work, organization, labour and globalization, 7, 31–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howcroft, D., & Richardson, H. (2012). The back office goes global: Exploring connections and contradictions in shared service centers. Work, Employment & Society, 26, 111–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huws, U. (2006). The making of a cybertariat: Virtual work in a real world. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huws, U., Dahlmann, S., & Flecker, J. (2004). Outsourcing of ICT and related services in the EU: A status report. Report for the European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, G., & Deeg, R. (2006). How many varieties of capitalism? Comparing the comparative institutional analyses of capitalist diversity. MPIfG Discussion Paper 06/2. Köln: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jürgens, K. (2006). Arbeits- und Lebenskraft. Reproduktion als eigensinnige Grenzziehung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L. (2011). Good jobs—Bad jobs: The rise of polarized and precarious employment systems in the United States 1970s to 2000s. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleemann, F., Matuschek, I., & Voß, G. G. (2002). Subjektivierung von Arbeit – ein Überblick zum Stand der soziologischen Diskussion. In M. Moldaschl & G. G. Voß (Eds.), Subjektivierung von Arbeit (pp. 53–100). München/Mering: Hampp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraemer, K. (2010). Abstiegsängste in Wohlstandslagen. In N. Burzan & P. A. Berger (Eds.), Dynamiken (in) der gesellschaftlichen Mitte (pp. 201–229). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Krippner, G. R. (2011). Capitalizing on crisis. The political origins of the rise of finance. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacity, M. C., Willcocks, L. P., & Rottman, J. W. (2008). Global outsourcing of back office services: Lessons, trends, and enduring challenges. Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, 1, 13–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohr, K. (2013). Subjektivierung von Arbeit. In H. Hirsch-Kreinsen & H. Minssen (Eds.), Lexikon der Arbeits- und Industriesoziologie (pp. 430–437), Berlin: Edition sigma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lüthje, B. (2006). Electronics contract manufacturing: Globale Produktion und neue Arbeitsregimes in China. WSI-Mitteilungen 1/2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchington, M., Grimshaw, D., Rubery, J., & Willmott, H. (Eds.). (2005). Fragmenting work: Blurring organizational boundaries and disordering hierarchies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marrs, K. (2010). Herrschaft und Kontrolle in der Arbeit. In F. Böhle, G. G. Voß, & G. Wachtler (Eds.), Handbuch Arbeitssoziologie (pp. 331–356). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mau, S., Mewes, J., & Schöneck, N. M. (2012). What determines subjective socio-economic insecurity? Context and class in comparative perspective. Socio-Economic Review, 10, 655–682.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millward, L. J., Haslam, S. A., & Postmes, T. (2007). Putting employees in their place: The impact of hot desking on organizational and team identification. Organization Science, 18, 547–559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Offe, C. (1985). Disorganized capitalism. Contemporary transformation of work and politics. London: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlow, L. A. (1999). The time famine: Towards a sociology of work time. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 57–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeiffer, S. (2012). Technologische Grundlagen der Entgrenzung: Chancen und Risiken. In B. Badura, A. Ducki, H. Schröder, J. Klose, & M. Meyer (Eds.), Fehlzeiten Report 2012. Gesundheit in der flexiblen Arbeitswelt: Chancen nutzen–Risiken minimieren (pp. 15–21). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramioul, M., & Van Hootegem, G. (2015). Relocation, the restructuring of the labour process and job quality. In J. Drahokoupil (Ed.), The outsourcing challenge: Organizing workers across fragmented production networks (pp. 91–115). Brussels: ETUI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, M. (2010). Control in contemporary work organizations. In P. Blyton, E. Heery, & P. Turnbull (Eds.), Reassessing the employment relationship (pp. 41–70). Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosa, H. (2005). Beschleunigung. Die Veränderung der Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, A. (2013). In search of the lost paycheck. In: T. Scholz (Ed.), Digital labor. The Internet as playground and factory (pp. 13–32). New York and London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, D. (2010). Vermarktlichung und Vernetzung der Unternehmens- und Betriebsorganisation. In F. Böhle, G. G. Voß, & G. Wachtler (Eds.), Handbuch Arbeitssoziologie (pp. 545–568). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Scherschel, K., Streckeisen, P., & Krenn, M. (Eds.). (2012). Neue Prekarität Die Folgen aktivierender Arbeitsmarktpolitik - europäische Länder im Vergleich. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmiede, R. (1996). Informatisierung, Formalisierung und kapitalistische Produktionsweise. Entstehung der Informationstechnik und Wandel der gesellschaftlichen Arbeit. In R. Schmiede (Ed.), Virtuelle Arbeitswelten. Arbeit, Produktion und Subjekt in der „Informationsgesellschaft“ (pp. 15–47). Berlin: Edition sigma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmiede, R. (2015). Arbeit im informierten Kapitalismus. Aufsätze 1976-2015. Berlin: Edition Sigma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schörpf, P., Flecker, J., Schönauer, A., & Eichmann, H. (2016). Triangular love-hate. Governance and control in crowdworking. Manuscript submitted to New Technology, Work and Employment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seifert, H. (2007). Arbeitszeit - Entwicklungen und Konflikte. Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, 4–5, 17–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, O. H., Ramioul, M., & Naujanienė, R. (2015). Autonomy in unlikely places: Preconditions in low-skilled jobs. In U. Holtgrewe, V. Kirov, & M. Ramioul (Eds.), Hard work in new jobs. The quality of work and life in European growth sectors (pp. 231–249). Houndmills and London: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sproll, M. (2016). Missing links in service value chain analysis—The case of call centers in the Brazilian banking sector. In J. Flecker (Ed.), Space, place and global digital work. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sturdy, A., Fleming, P., & Delbridge, R. (2010). Normative control and beyond in contemporary capitalism. In P. Thompson & C. Smith (Eds.), Working life. Renewing labour process analysis (pp. 113–135). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, P. (2010). The globalization of service work: Analysing the transnational call centre value chain. In: P. Thompson & C. Smith (Eds.), Working life. Renewing labour process analysis (pp. 244–268). Hampshire: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (2003). Disconnected capitalism: Or why employers can’t keep their side of the bargain. Work, Employment & Society, 17, 78–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, P. (2013). Financialization and the workplace: Extending and applying the disconnected capitalism thesis. Work, Employment & Society, 27, 472–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vartiainen, M. (2006). Mobile virtual work—concepts, outcomes and challenges. In E. Andriessen & M. Vartiainen (Eds.), Mobile virtual work. A new paradigm? (pp. 13–44). Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voß, G. G. (1998). Die Entgrenzung von Arbeit und Arbeitskraft. Eine subjektorientierte Interpretation des Wandels der Arbeit. Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, 31, 473–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voß, G. G., & Pongratz, H. J. (1998). Der Arbeitskraftunternehmer. Eine neue Grundform der Ware Arbeitskraft? Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 50, 131–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wajcman, J. (2015). Pressed for time. The acceleration of life in digital capitalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, T. J. (2008). Sociology, work and industry (5th ed.). London and New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Windeler, A., & Wirth, C. (2010). Netzwerke und Arbeit. In F. Böhle, G. G. Voß, & G. Wachtler (Eds.), Handbuch Arbeitssoziologie (pp. 539–596). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windolf, P. (Ed.). (2005). Finanzmarkt-Kapitalismus. Sonderheft der Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie: Analysen zum Wandel von Produktionsregimen. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Windolf, P. (2008). Eigentümer ohne Risiko. Die Dienstklasse des Finanzmarkt-Kapitalismus. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 37, 516–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jörg Flecker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Flecker, J., Fibich, T., Kraemer, K. (2017). Socio-Economic Changes and the Reorganization of Work. In: Korunka, C., Kubicek, B. (eds) Job Demands in a Changing World of Work. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54678-0_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics