{"title":"Reimagining the Egalitarian Society: A Community-wide Approach to Transcending the Gender Division of Paid and Unpaid Labour","authors":"Reece Garcia, Carol Atkinson","doi":"10.1177/09500170261424138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261424138","url":null,"abstract":"Participant observation and interviews in a large community unique for enacting gender egalitarianism provide evidence that subversive, collective action at the interactional level can redo gender at the wider institutional level. A series of interdependent practices collectively designed and undertaken through member interaction effectively created sustained structural and cultural changes at the institutional level – which simultaneously created conducive conditions for gender-atypical behaviour at the interactional level. These practices include uniform working hours and ‘earnings’ for all members; communal provision of often privatised forms of domestic labour such as childcare; and a 50:50 gender quota for all representative positions underpinned by a comprehensive role rotation system. Two processes of ‘redoing’ gender proved to be mutually reinforcing: as participants become accountable to revised normative conceptions of gender-appropriate behaviour at the institutional level, gender becomes a less salient feature of how work is divided between women and men at the interactional level.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147535920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Biopolitics of Unmanageable Risk in the Gig Economy","authors":"Elsie Foeken","doi":"10.1177/09500170261422951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261422951","url":null,"abstract":"A hallmark of the gig economy is the near-complete offloading of risk onto workers. Recent research has begun examining how gig workers conceptualise and self-manage these risks. This article contributes to this literature by questioning whether it is <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ever</jats:italic> possible for workers to agentically manage risk in the gig economy. Drawing on interviews with Australian ‘home task’ gig workers, the article explores the creative and agentic capabilities that workers developed to self-manage risk. However, it also demonstrates how these capabilities were routinely sabotaged by the platform and social conditions of gig work. Drawing on a Foucauldian theoretical framework, the article argues that this sabotage is an effect of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">biopolitical disinvestment</jats:italic> into the gig economy, wherein gig workers are slowly ‘let to die’ by the neoliberal context of their work.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147524052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mobilization Theory in Practice: The Great Strike of Zonguldak","authors":"Sadık Kılıç, Bülent Özel","doi":"10.1177/09500170261424131","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261424131","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a novel reinterpretation of John Kelly’s mobilization theory through the lens of the Great Strike of Zonguldak (1990–91), a landmark event involving over 100,000 workers and their families in a 120-km march for justice and dignity. By drawing on 46 formal interviews, autobiographical accounts, documentary testimonies and an extensive review of national newspapers, the study explores how grassroots activism and union bureaucracy dynamically interacted to produce one of the most significant labour mobilizations in Turkish history. While Kelly’s model emphasizes the role of informal leadership in framing injustice and facilitating collective action, this study advances the theory by revealing the emergent and context-sensitive interplay between informal and formal leadership during contentious mobilizations. Integrating insights from Rick Fantasia and empirical critiques of Kelly’s framework, the article provides a refined perspective on grassroots dynamics and union structures, offering broader insights into labour mobilization processes across diverse socio-political contexts.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147524051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Political Dynamics of Inclusion: Noncitizen Workers in Ethnocratic States","authors":"Assaf S Bondy, Jonathan Preminger","doi":"10.1177/09500170261424126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261424126","url":null,"abstract":"Research into migrant workers suggests noncitizens are subject to tensions between their inclusion for labour and their exclusion as the ethnic ‘other’. These tensions are held in balance by a stable configuration of state and social actors. However, a security crisis provides an opportunity for actors to shift the balance towards their interests and is likely to strengthen the exclusionary logic. We analyse the labour market in Israel/Palestine following the extreme crisis of October 2023, to show how actors shift the inclusionary/exclusionary balance and how this impacts the entry and employment terms of noncitizen workers. We find that while crisis enables actors to challenge the status quo, key logics underpinning that status quo are resilient, and neoliberal inclusionary pressures persist even during extreme security crises. We thus reveal the structural constraints that market economies place on ethnonational projects, including ethnocracies with a powerful ethnonational ethos expressed in populist racist politics.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"270 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147524690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Constructing a Skilled Yet Flexible Migrant Workforce: State-driven Skilled Migration of IT Workers from South Korea to Japan","authors":"Ilju Kim, Sung-Chul Noh","doi":"10.1177/09500170261422941","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261422941","url":null,"abstract":"Examining the skilled migration of IT workers from South Korea to Japan, this study illuminates the critical role of the sending country government in steering migration intermediaries and migrants towards less-than-ideal employment outcomes in the destination country. By analysing the three phases of pre- and post-migration mediation – attraction, allocation and integration – and examining the interactions among multiple actors in each phase, the study uncovers how the continuous flow of IT skilled migration from South Korea to Japan since around 2000 has produced skilled yet flexible migrant labour in Japan’s expanding IT industry. This study advances theoretical discussions on the nexus between migrant labour and the flexible labour market structures of the host country by shedding light on the role of sending states in constructing ‘supply-driven’ skilled yet flexible labour mobility.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147507863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Riding the Waves of Adjustment to Work and Life in Another Country: How and Why Self-expatriates (Re)construct their Social Identities","authors":"Hyacinthe Caldwell, Rory Donnelly, Huadong Yang","doi":"10.1177/09500170261416851","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261416851","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how self-expatriates (SEs) negotiate tensions between multiple social identities and how this affects their long-term social and professional adjustment to work and life in another country. We use identity work theory to broaden social identity theory (SIT) and offer a deeper understanding of the roles played by social communities in the lived experiences of SEs. Longitudinal qualitative data were collected through 60 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 18 participants. The thematic analysis of the data reveals how SEs balance their allegiance to their expatriate community and host-country nationals (HCNs) as they (re)construct their identities to fulfil their work and lifestyle goals. By highlighting how group membership is not fixed but negotiated and reframed, we contribute to the sociological literature on expatriation by identifying four waves to the identity and adjustment process experienced by SEs.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"94 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Darren McGuire, Malika Nazar, Laura Piacentini, Pratima Sambajee
{"title":"Contesting Labour Violations in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Fields","authors":"Darren McGuire, Malika Nazar, Laura Piacentini, Pratima Sambajee","doi":"10.1177/09500170251408614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170251408614","url":null,"abstract":"This article shares a co-written work and life biography of a prominent female international human rights defender working to strengthen civil society in Uzbekistan. We centre the article on the experience of Malika Nazar, who was falsely imprisoned and remains a person of interest to the authorities. Drawing on participant reflexivity interviews, a workshop and a public lecture, we contribute to the literature on coercive labour and actor agency in supply chains and Global Value Chains (GVCs) at a time of authoritarian crackdowns on activists across Uzbek society and in a context where labour rights monitors continue to face major threats and risks. The central contribution of this OtFL article is to showcase work and its tensions rooted in the Global East.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147454646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Francesca Coin, The Great Resignation: The New Refusal of Work CoinFrancescaThe Great Resignation: The New Refusal of WorkLondon: Bloomsbury, 2025, £18 pbk, (ISBN: 9781350534360), 216 pp.","authors":"Ari Stillman","doi":"10.1177/09500170261421777","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261421777","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"82 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147393359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing Stigma and Perpetuating Ableism: How Frontline Workers Navigate Disclosure When Encouraging Employers to Hire Disabled People","authors":"Camilla Stub Lundberg, Per Koren Solvang","doi":"10.1177/09500170261416231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170261416231","url":null,"abstract":"Although disability disclosure is extensively researched, little is known about how professionals disclose disability on behalf of others. This article examines how frontline workers involved in active labour market policies (ALMPs) employ stigma management strategies when encouraging employers to hire disabled people. As employer engagement is central to ALMPs, disclosure emerges as a critical site for analysis. The study draws on group interviews with Norwegian work inclusion professionals (counsellors, employment specialists, and market coordinators) who assist disabled jobseekers. A theoretical framework connecting stigma and ableism was developed, contributing to the sociology of work literature by analysing how ableist norms of productivity are contested and reproduced in their management of stigma. Analysis revealed four disclosure approaches: familiarisation, facilitation, targeting, and self-disclosing, shaped by individual and environmental factors. These approaches involve interpersonal contact and consideration of timing and selectivity, highlighting the dilemmatic nature of disclosure within welfare systems where ableism persists.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"338 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147274312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Organising Beyond the Employment Relationship: Scaling Up and Institutional Power in Own-Account Unions","authors":"Megan Rivers-Moore, Kate Hardy","doi":"10.1177/09500170251410861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170251410861","url":null,"abstract":"Sex workers lack structural power; they cannot withdraw their labour to stop production and most do not have a single employer with whom to collectively bargain. The absence of ‘wage-effort bargaining’ has led to conclusions that these workers cannot form successful unions. Yet own-account informal workers in the Global South have routinely organised outside employment relationships and wage-effort bargaining. Organisational forms amongst such workers are generally characterised as spontaneous and non-traditional, with demands focused on social welfare at the municipal scale. Drawing on 32 interviews in Guatemala and Colombia, we demonstrate that sex workers have established formal unions and accessed ‘institutional power’, including re-scaling contestation from the municipal scale to the nation state. We theorise formal union recognition as an enduring vital strategy, with direct material implications for the conditions of work inside the workplace.","PeriodicalId":48187,"journal":{"name":"Work Employment and Society","volume":"558 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146260885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}