Labor Practices Research Articles

From local to global: Village YouTubers and rural creator cultures in South India

This article examines emerging rural creator cultures in South India. Specifically, it focuses on the uptake and production of YouTube videos by village creators, a relatively understudied but increasingly important phenomenon given the rapid spread of social media entertainment in rural India. Through a case study on My Village Show, a YouTube media collective, this article shows how rural cultural producers transformed into ‘media workers’, ‘creators’, and ‘influencers’. The South Indian YouTubing landscape, with a multitude of village-centric social media entertainment channels, reveals a new dynamic of cultural production in the Global South, distinguished by collective, collaborative, and formalizing creator labor practices. Drawing upon ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with rural cultural producers, this article analyzes and conceptualizes rural creator cultures within particular socio-cultural, vernacular, and regional dynamics in India.

“I always have to look attractive, but nobody cares on what I feel”: Aesthetic labor on Sales Promotion Girl (SPG)

Aesthetic labor is a job that involves the display of aesthetic body appearance and emotions by the workers. Aesthetic labor practices are performed by service workers who interact directly with customers, including Sales Promotion Girls (SPGs). This qualitative research aims to reveal how aesthetic labor practices are carried out by SPGs and what burdens that they carry. A total of 10 SPG informants who have at least one year of work experience were involved. This research found that SPGs always have to maintain their body appearances and emotions to attract customers’ attention and convince them to make purchases. They even spend money to maintain their body appearances, such as for buying healthy foods, cosmetics, skincare products, and going to the salon. SPGs are also expected to always display positive emotions in any situation. Furthermore, SPGs often experience sexual harassment at the workplace. It can be concluded that while performing aesthetic labor practices, SPGs actually experience the practices of being a docile body too. In addition, SPGs have a double burden, namely physical and emotional burdens, in doing their jobs. However, there are still many who underestimate SPGs and ignore the difficulty they face as aesthetic labor workers.

Implementation of Labor Law in the Era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 - Challenges and Solutions

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 has drastically transformed global industries, introducing advanced technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, and digitalization into the workplace. This rapid technological shift has presented significant challenges for labor laws, which are often designed for traditional work environments. This study explores the implementation of labor law in the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, analyzing the challenges faced by both employers and employees in adapting to these new technological advancements. Using a qualitative methodology, this research employs a juridical review of existing labor laws, supported by an in-depth case study examining how these laws are applied in technology-driven industries. The findings indicate that labor laws often lag behind the technological advances, leading to gaps in legal protections for workers and ambiguities in employer obligations. The case study highlights specific instances where current labor regulations fail to address issues related to remote work, job displacement due to automation, and workers' rights in the gig economy. Solutions are proposed to modernize labor laws, ensuring they are adaptable to future technological developments while safeguarding workers' rights. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for legal reforms to balance innovation with fair labor practices in the era of Industry 4.0.

CSR and Employee Engagement: How Social Responsibility Initiatives Affect Workforce Motivation

In recent years, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from a peripheral concern to a central element of business strategy, particularly in developing economies like India. This shift underscores the growing importance of integrating social responsibility into corporate operations, not merely as an ethical obligation but as a strategic imperative that can influence employee behaviour and organizational performance. This research paper investigates the intricate relationship between CSR initiatives and employee engagement, with a focus on how these initiatives can enhance workforce motivation in the Indian context. Utilizing a multi-method approach that combines qualitative analysis, case studies, and a comprehensive literature review, this study explores the mechanisms through which CSR impacts employee engagement. It emphasizes the significance of aligning CSR efforts with the values and expectations of employees, thereby fostering a sense of belonging, pride, and purpose in their work. The findings reveal a positive correlation between well-implemented CSR initiatives and increased levels of employee motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational loyalty. Additionally, the research identifies specific types of CSR activities—such as environmental sustainability programs, community engagement, and ethical labour practices—that have proven particularly effective in enhancing employee morale. By presenting real-world examples from leading Indian companies, this paper offers actionable insights for organizations looking to leverage CSR as a tool for improving employee engagement and overall performance. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the role of CSR in shaping employee experiences and organizational outcomes, providing a framework for companies to develop effective CSR strategies that not only benefit society but also cultivate a motivated and engaged workforce.

The Importance and Influence of labor Motivation on the Institutionalization of Formal and Informal labor practices

The Importance and Influence of labor Motivation on the Institutionalization of Formal and Informal labor practices

The triangular relationship in platform gig work: Consumers, platform beneficence and worker vulnerability

AbstractPlatform gig work is created and contested in dynamic, triangular relationships between platforms, workers, and consumers. Compared with the first two groups, however, evidence about the role of the third—consumers—is sparse. In this paper, we investigate consumers' changing perceptions of work in the platform gig economy and argue that their perspective warrants greater attention in sociological analyses. Using data from two Australian public opinion surveys conducted 5 years apart (2017 and 2022), we explore how consumers' views of platform gig work evolved during a period of rapid change that includes the first 2 years of the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find that while overall platform use increased markedly, many consumers felt conflicted about gig workers' conditions and key features of platforms' typical labour practices. There is a pronounced, enduring, and consequential tension in consumers' views of the merits and drawbacks of this work; between, on the one hand, an acceptance that platforms do benefit workers to some extent and, on the other hand, misgivings about workers' vulnerability to harm. In centring consumers, our paper empirically enriches current triangular conceptions of labour relations in the platform gig economy, by showing how consumers mediate the interests of platforms and workers, to shape how gig work manifests and who benefits from it. We also contribute useful new practical knowledge, by elucidating the prevailing concerns of consumers that could be developed into resonant themes for campaigns aimed at improving platform gig workers' rights.

The Plight of Employment Policies that Exclude Customary Practices in the Workplace

South Africa is called a “rainbow nation”, and with its 11 official languages, the country is a melting pot of diverse cultures, traditions, and beliefs. This diversity is not without challenges. This brings interesting and complex questions from an employment perspective; therefore, striking a balance between the employer’s rights versus the employee’s traditional practices has become a significant challenge. The article analyses these challenges that arise as a result of the failure of section 8(3) of the Constitution to give a direct mandate to develop customary law to put into effect or limit a right that is found in the Bill of Rights and in this instance the right to fair labour practices in terms of section 23. The article will also analyse the cases dealing with employees who wanted to enforce their rights conferred to them by the Constitution to practice their culture but were excluded and discriminated against on some of the grounds listed in section 9(3) of the Constitution. The article will conclude by recommending that labour laws and the Constitution should be reviewed to cater for native persons, in particular, the recognition of customary laws and practices at the workplace.

Forced Labour, Global Supply Chain and TNCs: Recent Trends and Practices

The abolition of forced labour is a fundamental element of contemporary international human rights law, but the idea has undergone a protracted and complex history, and the scope of the various international mechanisms that handle different aspects of it is not always precisely defined. Slavery, forced labour, and related practices are strictly prohibited under international law. Forced labour is a longstanding and complex obstacle in global supply chains, frequently associated with the desire for inexpensive products and the outsourcing of manufacturing processes to nations with lax labour regulations. The growing power of transnational corporations (TNCs) poses significant challenges to workers at the bottom of supply chains. However, disagreements have made it unclear how to deal with new forms of forced labour, or modern forms of slavery. This confusion highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to combating these issues. Efforts to stop or restrict forced labour will be made easier with a clear legal definition at both the national and international levels, particularly with an emphasis on the human rights perspective.

Queer Limitrophic Dwelling

Based on twenty-one months of ethnography and interviews with transborder commuters in the San Diego-Tijuana border region, this article develops the notion of “queer limitrophic dwelling.” Building on queer, feminist, and transnational scholarship on home and dwelling, the article demonstrates how transborder commuters negotiate white Euro-American renditions of home and domesticity that emphasize privacy and fixity as the “proper” ideal vis-à-vis the home. It argues that transborder commuters enact several life-making or queer tactics — practices not necessarily enacted by LGBTQ+ subjects — that spatially decentralize their homes in Tijuana by harnessing transborder kinships and by making queer use of spaces and objects at the San Ysidro port of entry and across San Diego. In doing so, transborder commuters’ domestic labor practices produce ephemeral mobile dwellings when needed, allowing them to navigate multiple temporalities and survive normalized conditions of displacement occasioned by US land ports of entry and racial capitalism. Importantly, queer limitrophic dwelling highlights the US-Mexico borderland's capabilities to nourish and maintain life while also being a product of US settler colonialism engendered through historic and ongoing border violence and exclusion.

A study on the unfair labor practice of paying union’s operating expenses

A study on the unfair labor practice of paying union’s operating expenses

Burden of Proof of Intention of Unfair Labor Practice

Burden of Proof of Intention of Unfair Labor Practice

Innovative Social Groups in the Institutional Changes of the Russian Countryside

The article considers the formation of innovative social groups in the social structure of the Russian countryside, broadcasting the managerial style of thinking and lifestyle of an active subject of agricultural labor. The current model of the agricultural market was formed under the powerful institutional pressure of market reforms. These objective social processes transformed the mentality of rural residents, gave rise to various labor practices, including employment in the informal sector, from which innovative market models of behavior in the agricultural labor market emerged. Using the example of farms and rural entrepreneurs, innovative layers in the labor market are shown, the criteria for which are an increase in agricultural land, production growth using new technologies and digital equipment, access to export markets. The information base consists of data from large-scale panel studies of Rosstat 2011–2022 and the All-Russian agricultural censuses of 2006, 2016, 2021. Institutional changes in the agricultural labor market have been identified, within the framework of which innovative groups are being formed. The development of innovative technologies used in agriculture requires the involvement of highly qualified labor. However, there is an acute shortage of personnel in the agricultural labor market. The wages of a significant segment of jobs in the rural market do not ensure economic stability. The survival strategy remains the main factor in the socio-economic behavior of rural residents, which determines the employment of most of them in non-agricultural sectors in the agricultural labor market. The crisis of agricultural organizations and the arrival of high-tech capitalist forms of production in agriculture cause the migration of the rural population to cities. Despite significant government support for agriculture, there is a shortage of engineering specialties and skilled workers. All these processes hinder the emergence and development of new innovative groups in rural areas. The foreign experience of the functioning of an institutionalized system of information networks and consulting for farmers and small businesses in agriculture is also presented.

Insights and challenges of sustainable project management implementations in construction sectors: Systematic literature analysis

The construction industry is a significant contributor towards global environmental degradation and resource depletion, with developing economies facing unique challenges in adopting sustainable construction practices. This systematic review aims to investigate the gap in sustainable construction implementation among global counterparts. The study utilizes the P5 (People, Planet, Prosperity, Process, Products) Standard as a framework for evaluating sustainable construction project management based on environmental, social, and economic targets. A Systematic Literature Review from a pool of 994 Sustainable Construction Project Management (SCPM) papers is conducted utilizing the PRISMA methodology. Through rigorous Identification, Screening, and Eligibility Verification, an analysis is synthesized from 44 relevant literature discussing SCPM Implementations worldwide. The results highlight significant challenges in three main categories: environmental, social, and economic impacts. Social impacts are found as the most extensively researched, while environmental and economic impacts are less studied. Further analysis reveals that social impacts are a major concern in sustainable construction, with numerous studies addressing labor practices and societal well-being. However, there is a notable gap in research on human rights within the construction industry. Environmental impacts, such as resource utilization, energy consumption, and pollution, are less frequently addressed, indicating a need for more focused studies in these areas. Economic impacts, including local economic impact and business agility, are further substantially underrepresented in the literature, suggesting that economic viability is a critical yet underexplored aspect of sustainable construction. The findings underscore the need for further research in these areas to address the implementation challenges of sustainable project management effectively. This research contributes towards the overall research of global sustainable construction through the utilization of the P5 Standards as a new lens of determining sustainability performance for construction projects worldwide.

Assessing the Impact of Sustainable Independent Oil Palm Cultivation on Rural Development: A Case Study of Angkola Sangkunur Sub-District, South Tapanuli Regency

This study evaluates the impact of sustainable independent oil palm cultivation on rural development in the Angkola Sangkunur sub-district, South Tapanuli Regency, Indonesia. The research focuses on five key aspects: legal, technical cultivation, environmental management, labor, and institutional factors. Data was collected through a combination of primary and secondary sources, with primary data obtained via questionnaires distributed to a probability-based sample of 165 respondents. The analysis employed multiple linear regression to assess the influence of each aspect on regional development, with hypotheses tested using both F-tests and t-tests. The results reveal that the technical cultivation and institutional aspects exert a significant positive influence on rural development, underscoring the critical role of advanced agricultural practices and strong governance structures. While legal and environmental management aspects also have positive effects, their impact was not statistically significant, indicating that these factors may require further development or longer timeframes to manifest significant outcomes. Conversely, the labor aspect showed a negative but statistically insignificant effect, suggesting that the costs associated with implementing sustainable labor practices may pose challenges for smallholder farmers. This study concludes that enhancing technical capabilities and institutional frameworks offers the most immediate and substantial benefits for rural development in the region. However, a holistic approach that also addresses legal, environmental, and labor issues is essential for achieving long-term sustainability. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers focused on sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Navigating Labour Shifts: Early Modern Pearl Fishing in the Caribbean (1521–1563)

Abstract Narratives about indigenous labour in the pearl fisheries of the Caribbean, widely disseminated across the Atlantic world since the sixteenth century by Castilian chroniclers, have significantly shaped historiography. These accounts have reinforced a singular narrative about labour within pearl fisheries that overlooks this work's spatial and temporal changes in sea depths. This article examines and reconstructs the labour practices of workers in the pearl fisheries on the islands of Cubagua, Margarita, and Coche, as well as the coast of Cabo de la Vela and Riohacha, highlighting their temporal and spatial transformations. Additionally, it analyses the coexistence of various forms of coerced labour within this context.

Indigenous Practices for Achieving Sustainable Construction

The objective of the present research is to explore the concept of sustainability in construction by examining indigenous construction practices followed in various regions of India, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that promote safe, resilient, and environmentally friendly human settlements. This study aims to investigate indigenous construction practices that have been used for generations and assess their applicability in the present context. Through the collection of qualitative data from participants, the study seeks to develop a theoretical model of sustainable construction that incorporates region-specific indigenous practices. As Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) lends itself useful for such theory development, we have used it as the methodology for data collection, analysis and model development. CGT enables in-depth inductive analysis of qualitative data. Data have been gathered through interviews and conversations as primary sources, supplemented by secondary sources. The study primarily focuses on key parameters such as construction materials and techniques, labour, economic considerations, and region-specific indigenous practices related to sustainable construction. This study develops a theoretical model that integrates indigenous practices with contemporary practices, and thus endeavours to bridge the past and present, offering a blend of traditional wisdom and contemporary relevance. It aims to inspire customers, architects, and engineers to reconnect with their cultural heritage and embrace local knowledge in construction practices, which have demonstrated sustainability over thousands of years. Findings from the study pave the way for better environmental management through sustainable indigenous construction practices.

GLOBALIZATION'S DOUBLE EDGE: ASSESSING ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN

The duple outcome of globalization has had a compelling sway on women all across the globe as it offers prospects as well as complications. On the one hand, today’s women now have more options to contribute through work, access to education, and healthcare which is a result of improved economic opportunities derived from globalization where technology disseminates ideas to share with the world, empowering women to establish and confront the world for their rights but with the uninterrupted gender-based exploitation, with the forced low remunerations accompanied by the ambiguous employment in some specific sectors like manufacturing. Furthermore, the deconstruction of social safety nets brought about by the neoliberal policies that accompanied globalization has increased the care obligations placed on women which hinders admittance of their access to economic opportunities, which makes women's experiences with the current phenomenon of globalization more complex and context-specific, which demand a detailed and comprehensive evaluation to ensure the fair distribution of its positive outcomes by minimizing its negative effects. This study analyses the impact of globalization on women in the underdeveloped and developed nations. It is a noticeable fact that globalization positively supports East Asian countries by providing more opportunities that generate economic prosperity but also results in inequality and exploitation, specifically for females and children living in less or least developed areas. Because of the reduction in public services, women in these areas often experience low earnings, unfavorable working conditions, and an increase in household duties. According to this study, globalization tends to uphold unfair labor practices and discriminatory gender norms even when it can give women access to the workforce and financial independence so there is no doubt in the fact that, Gender inequality and economic development both go hand in hand in developing countries, where women are more likely to be exploited and have lower levels of economic engagement.

Neo-Liberalism’s Shadows: Modern slavery in South African Higher Education

Neoliberal ideology globally prioritises competition and productivity over staff well-being in higher education, leading to exploitative practices and heightened stress among academic faculty, culminating in what can be termed modern academic slavery. This study investigates the contemporary impact of neoliberalism on South African universities, focussing on governance, funding and academic freedom, and how these factors contribute to deteriorating conditions for academic staff and toxic work environments. This research examines academic experiences in a South African urban higher education institution (HEI) utilizing a single-case study approach. It examines their context within institutional and societal trends. Using a single-case ideographic approach in a South African HEI, the study utilises detailed documentation, incident analysis and literature review to understand academic enslavement within the chosen HEI, contextualising the academic’s experiences within these broader institutional and societal trends. The findings reveal four key themes: moral disengagement, corporate malfeasance, exploitative labour practices, and labour coercion, illustrating the widespread exploitation of academic staff. The study advocates for urgent interventions to ensure respectful treatment, foster ethical work environments, and address disparities between administrators and faculty. It calls for autonomy, ethical leadership and a culture of inquiry in HEIs to combat modern academic slavery while acknowledging the need for further action and exploration.Contribution: This study underscores the current impact of neoliberalism on higher education in South Africa, exposing challenges for academic staff and advocating systemic reforms. It emphasises the necessity for future investigations into institutional accountability and strategies to enhance staff well-being in HEIs.

‘Providing a Layman's Guide to the Scheme’: Museum Computing, Professional Personas and Documentary Labour in the United Kingdom, 1967–1983

Abstract Between the 1960s and early-1980s the museum sector in the United Kingdom (UK) was rapidly professionalised and systematised. A crucial moment in this transition was the creation in 1967 of the Information Retrieval Group of the Museums Association (IRGMA), and the subsequent launch of its system for the machine encoding and communication of museum catalogue records. The rise of IRGMA marked an inflection point in museological practice and the normalisation of computerised work within the UK museum profession, a moment when the desire for a ‘layman's guide to the scheme’ began to give way to new professional personas and forms of documentary labour. This article asks how cultures of museology and professional labour shifted in response to IRGMA. It argues that between the late 1960s and mid-1980s both the implementation of and the debate around computerised cataloguing disrupted the function of UK museums and how museum professionals imagined their labour. And by tracing the emergence of these cultures and their intersections with professional identity and labour practices, this article seeks to tease out the ways museum history can resonate with wider narratives of labour, expertise and technological innovation in contemporary British history.

Price Monitoring, or Where Surveillance Studies Meets the Sociology of Price Formation

This essay stages an encounter between surveillance studies and the sociology of price and price formation. I argue that surveillance is integral to the calculative operations of retail price strategies, especially during periods of high inflation, and that these calculative operations hinge on the human infrastructure of a precarious data-collecting workforce. I present my argument through a case study of competitor price monitoring, a corporate surveillance practice in which commercial actors record, process, and transmit information on competitors’ pricing, inventory, and display strategies. While pricing intelligence services like web-scraping and dynamic pricing algorithms are typically applied in e-commerce settings, I focus here on a firm that specializes in the collection of brick-and-mortar retail price data, with special attention to the labor practices involved in the manual (in-person, device-aided) production of retail price information at the national-industrial scale. Building on auto-ethnographic observations as a price data collector as well as analysis of employee reviews of the firm on sites like Indeed and Glassdoor, I argue that surveillance studies can contribute in significant ways to our understanding of the material practices, and politics, of price and price formation.