International Labour Studies Research Articles

Global Labour Studies ed. by Marcus Taylor and Sébastian Rioux

Reviewed by: Global Labour Studies ed. by Marcus Taylor and Sébastian Rioux Christopher Mastrocola Marcus Taylor and Sebastian Rioux, Global Labour Studies Cambridge: Polity Press, 2017 Surprisingly pew introductory texts have been written on global labour studies, despite its notable growth following the 1980's debates over the New International Labour Studies movement. Perhaps this is attributable to the inherent difficulty of introducing such an expansive discipline: not only are the issues examined and perspectives employed wide-ranging, but they are brought to bear on an incredibly complicated and rapidly changing global economy. In Global Labour Studies, authors Marcus Taylor and Sebastian Rioux confront this challenge head-on. The result is a robust introductory work that combines theoretical breadth and empirical rigour, all the while ensuring accessibility for readers new to the field. As Taylor and Rioux correctly note, the field of global labour studies is considerably fragmented, marked by research that is often conducted within narrow disciplinary frameworks that privilege specific issues and topics, often at the expense [End Page 310] of others. In its 13 chapters, spanning 213 pages, perhaps the greatest contribution of this book is the innovative interdisciplinary framework the authors develop to overcome this fragmentation and produce a cohesive and multifaceted approach to the field. It is constructed through the thoughtful integration of four primary perspectives: (1) political economy and the study of power; (2) economic sociology and the question of networks; (3) human geography and the focus on space and scale; and (4) development studies and the livelihoods perspective. Challenging tendencies to reify and idealize existing society, a political-economic perspective foregrounds the ways in which the practices, relations, and institutions of labour are socially constructed on the basis of unequal power relations. This perspective is complemented by that of economic sociology, with its emphasis on the social embed-dedness of the economy; in particular, Taylor and Rioux draw attention to the ways in which society's values and norms influence the normative conceptions of work and work relations held by individuals. They also call attention to the key role that social networks play in in the production and reproduction of labour power and labour regimes as well as in enabling and constraining political praxis. In their discussion of human geography and space, the authors draw on David Harvey's threefold conception of space as absolute (physical and material space), relative (space as transformed through human praxis), and relational (space as informing and conditioning collective ideas, experiences, and practices). This expansive conception of space proves ideal for conceptualizing the multifaceted ways that spatial relations and social relations mutually constitute one another. Furthermore, when synthesized with the other three perspectives, it enables the authors to masterfully navigate the complexities and nuances of issues such as the social reproduction of labour power, labour migration, global production chains, and translocal labour movements, amongst others. These three analytical perspectives tend to focus attention on the larger questions of power and production with a primary focus on macro-level analyses. To round out their analysis, the authors make the astute decision to incorporate a livelihoods perspective drawn from the field of developmental studies. This bottom-up approach focuses on the ways that individuals and households navigate the opportunities and constraints of their specific context. In doing so, they affirm the agency individuals possess when engaging with broader social structures and practices. After establishing their theoretical framework, Taylor and Rioux use the remaining ten chapters to apply it to a range of issues central to global labour studies. Following the order in which they appear in the work, these include: labour regimes, global production networks, formal labour, informal labour, agrarian labour, migrant labour, forced labour, environment and labour, corporate social responsibility, organizing global labour, and a concluding chapter on the future of global labour. The authors use a combination of vignettes, personal anecdotes, and case studies to introduce the topics to the reader in an accessible and provocative way. Their analyses attend to both the historical development of the issues they consider, as well as how they are concretely materialized in different but interrelated geographical areas. At the end of each chapter the authors provide a helpful list...

Globalisation, labour and development: a view from the South

The 'new' international labour studies (NILS) of the 1980s have been largely superseded by the globalisation and labour problematic which, arguably, translates the original NILS project into a contemporary idiom. An understanding of Karl Polanyi's 'double movement' has been important in that transition. But do we not also need a clear grasp of Karl Marx's analysis of capital accumulation and its impact on labour? And, has the era of globalisation done away with the 'law' of uneven and combined development? Finally, in the new flat world we inhabit, can we really articulate a 'view from the South' or is that just an anachronism? Taking stock after 30 years of international labour research this piece points to some possible avenues for further research on globalisation, labour and development from a subaltern perspective. Labour studies In the early 1970s a new labour movement began to emerge in South Africa to challenge the apartheid regime. As Eddie Webster describes it 'at first, sociologists were ill-prepared to explain the rapid rise of a militant labour movement in a country such as South Africa' (Webster 2004: 258). Eurocentric theories of trade unions and their stages of development were not particularly helpful and nor were the dogmatic Marxist accounts based on notions of trade union economism. As Webster puts it, 'To understand and explain the rise of labour a new generation of sociologists stepped outside the classroom' (Webster 2004:260). Thus in South Africa a new type of labour studies was generated (in large part due to the enthusiasm and expertise of Eddie Webster) based on critical engagement with labour organisations and the pre-existing body of knowledge around labour.

Who Works for Globalisation? The challenges and possibilities for international labour studies

This introductory article to the special issue surveys the field of international labour studies and examines the key areas of growth over the past decade. It locates three core areas of the new literature: 1) the social construction of new labour forces across an expanding international division of labour; 2) the self-organising potential of workers, particularly within non-traditional sectors; and 3) the possibilities for transborder labour movements to help address the asymmetrical power relationships between globalised capital and localised labour. It argues that international labour studies as a field needs to make explicit its challenge to mainstream political economy by detailing how struggles over the construction, reproduction, utilisation and restructuring of labour forces are the contested social foundations upon which the global economy stands.

Afterword: beyond the ‘new’ international labour studies

The ‘new’ international labour studies set out some 30 years ago to define a new object of study and a new trans-disciplinary methodological approach. How does that project translate into present day concerns with globalisation and labour? The achievements and limitations of this paradigm are surveyed here, taking up many of the insights of this collection and charting some options for the future. I would argue that current attention to gender issues does not seem to be matched by a focus on ‘race’/ethnicity divisions between workers and the increasing impact these might well have. More broadly migration studies should, arguably, be more closely integrated into the new international labour studies. In methodological terms we need to shift from the structuralism of the 1970s to a post-structuralism that will allow us to critically deconstruct mainstream approaches to labour and development.

Review article: reflections on international labour studies in the UK

Reflecting personally on the contribution of the UK to international labour studies over the past forty years and his own role in this history, Peter Waterman reviews some recent publications and websites from both inside and outside the official trade union movement. These are: Tony Pilch (ed) Trades Unions and Globalisation, London: Smith Institute. 86 pp. ISBN 1-905370-14-8 Sheila Cohen, Ramparts of Resistance: Why Workers Lost Their Power and How to Get it Back, London: Pluto, 248 pp. ISBN 13-978-0-7453-1529-4 (pb) Ronaldo Munck, 2006. Globalisation and Contestation: The Great Counter-Movement, London: Routledge. 176 pp. ISBN-10 0415376564 Angela Hale and Jane Wills (eds). Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers’ Perspective, Oxford: Blackwell, 288 pp. ISBN-10: 1405126388 Paul Mason, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global, London: Harvill Secker. 304 pp. ISBN 978-0-436-20615-3 NewUnionism http://www.newunionism.net/ Union Ideas Network http://www.uin.org.uk/

Coping With the Miracle: Japan's Unions Explore New International Relations.

This text in the International Labour Studies series analyzes Japan's unions' exploration of new international relations.

Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies.

Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies.

Book Review: International and Comparative: Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies

Book Review: International and Comparative: Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies

Contested domains: debates in international labour studies

Contested domains: debates in international labour studies

Enterprises and the Urban Environment in the USSR

International Journal of Urban and Regional ResearchVolume 16, Issue 2 p. 222-233 Enterprises and the Urban Environment in the USSR E.S. SHOMINA, E.S. SHOMINA Institute of International Labour Studies, Kolpachny per. 9A, Moscow 101831, RussiaSearch for more papers by this author E.S. SHOMINA, E.S. SHOMINA Institute of International Labour Studies, Kolpachny per. 9A, Moscow 101831, RussiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1992 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.1992.tb00170.xCitations: 28AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume16, Issue2June 1992Pages 222-233 RelatedInformation

Reviews

Reviews of:Holding the line - compulsory arbitration and national employer coordination in AustraliaCurrent approaches to collective bargainingBuilding tomorrow today: African workers in trade unions 1970-1984The new international labour studies: An introduction

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Rashid Amjad (ed.). Human Resource Planning: The Asian Experience.Richard Hosier (ed.), Energy, Environment and Development in Africa. Uppsala, Sweden: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in association with the Beijer Institute and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Vol. 9, Zimbabwe: Energy Planning for National Development, 1986, xii + 206pp; Vol.10, Zimbabwe: Industrial and Commercial Energy Use, 1988, 142pp; Vol. 11, Energy for Rural Development in Zimbabwe, 1988, 248pp. SEK 70/SEK 40 for Third World countries, hardback.David Burch, Overseas Aid and the Transfer of Technology.T.N. Srinivasan and Pranab K. Bardhan (eds). Rural Poverty in South Asia.John Iliffe, The African Poor: A History.E. Wayne Nafziger, Inequality in Africa: Political Elites, Proletariat, Peasants and the Poor.Randolph C. Kent, Anatomy of Disaster Relief: The International Network in Action.War Wounds: Development Costs of Conflict in Southern Sudan. Sudanese People Report on Their War.A.G.M. Ahmed and Gunnar M. Sørbo (eds), Management of the Crisis in the Sudan: Proceedings of the Bergen Forum 23–24 February 1989.Donald A. Wilwhite and William E. Easterling (eds), with Deborah A. Wood, Planning for Drought: Toward a Reduction of Societal Vulnerability.Keith McLachlan, The Neglected Garden: The Politics and Ecology of Agriculture in Iran.Philip Rallies, Modernising Hunger: Famine. Food Surplus and Farm Policy in the EEC and Africa.Roger Jeffery, The Politics of Health in India.Ben Wisner, Power and Need in Africa: Basic Human Needs and Development Policies.Herlbert Adam and Kogila Moodley, South Africa Without Apartheid: Dismantling Racial Domination.John Suckling and Landeg While (eds). After Apartheid: Renewal of the South African Economy.William Cobbett and Robin Cohen (eds), Popular Struggles in South Africa: Review of African Political Economy.Ann Seidman, The Roots of Crisis in Southern Africa.Peler H. Katjavivi, A History of Resistance in Namibia.Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun and Witches. Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial Peru.David Rock, Argentina 1516–1987: From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsin.Barry Ames, Political Survival. Politicians and Public Policy in Latin America.Abel Aganbegyan, The Challenge: Economics of Perestroika.Ronaldo Munck, The New International Labour Studies. An Introduction.

International Labour and the Third World: The Making of a New Working Class

This collection of articles on the international labor studies is drawn from a year of seminar activities and a conference held in Spring 1980 at the Center for Developing Areas at McGill University in Montreal. The studies are linked by their common approach to understanding the struggles of the working poor usually unorganized laboring people from Third World countries. This approach consciously rejected regional linguistic and disciplinary barriers to focus on the unity of the labor phenomenon between 1 country and another. The book has been divided into 4 parts: 1) Theoretical Perspectives 2) Class Formation and the Movement 3) The International Division of and 4) A Concluding Bibliography. Cohens opening essay Theorizing International Labour acts as an introduction to the book situates the essays in a wider field and attempts to explain the distinctiveness of what he calls the new international labour studies.

Monologue and dialogue in international labour studies

Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologieVolume 23, Issue 1 p. 150-156 Monologue and dialogue in international labour studies First published: February 1986 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-618X.1986.tb00400.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume23, Issue1February 1986Pages 150-156 RelatedInformation

A New Series from ZED Press LTD: International Labour Studies Series

A New Series from ZED Press LTD: International Labour Studies Series