Labour Exploitation and Work-Based Harm

by Sam Scott

Overview

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Labour exploitation is a highly topical though complex issue that has international resonance for those concerned with social justice and social welfare, but there is a lack of research available about it. This book, part of the Studies in Social Harm series, is the first to look at labour exploitation from a social harm perspective, arguing that, as a global social problem, it should be located within the broader study of work-based harm. Written by an expert in policy orientated research, he critiques existing approaches to the study of workplace exploitation, abuse and forced labour. Mapping out a new sub-discipline, this innovative book aims to shift power from employers to workers to reduce levels of labour exploitation and work-based harm. It is relevant to academics from many fields as well as legislators, policy makers, politicians, employers, union officials, activists and consumers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447322078
Publisher:	Policy Press
Publication date:	04/19/2017
Series:	Studies in Social Harm
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Sam Scott is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Gloucestershire. He specialises in international migration, labour markets and workplace regulation. He has worked at the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol and Exeter, studied at the University of Sheffield and the Sorbonne in Paris, and has extensive experience of research consultancy. Most recently (2010-2012) Sam completed two reports for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) on forced labour in the UK. Before this, he examined employers‘ attitudes to migrant and indigenous labour in the food industry (2007-2009). He has published widely on these issues.

Table of Contents

List of poems vii

Lists of figures, tables and boxes viii

List of abbreviations xi

About the author xii

Acknowledgements xiii

Foreword Christina Pantazis Simon Pemberton xv

1 Introduction 3

Defining the issues: determining the language 3

A social harm perspective 9

Data sources 12

Outline of the book 14

2 The Labour exploitation continuum 21

Fatalities at work 21

Fatalities through work 25

Non-fatal work-based harm 29

Chattel slavery 30

Modern slavery 31

Forced labour 34

Human trafficking 39

Child labour 42

Above the criminal-legal baselines 43

Conclusion 47

3 Lessons of history 51

Widespread social stratification 51

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose 53

Victim blaming 56

Controlling the poor and the unemployed 57

Limiting compensation 59

Restrained resistance 62

Social movements 65

Worker empowerment and collective action 66

Conclusion 67

4 Direct workplace controls 71

Workplace control 71

Taylorism and scientific management 73

New management 76

Targets, monitoring and surveillance 77

Job insecurity 83

Bullying and mobbing 90

Excessive hours 93

Conclusion 95

5 Indirect workplace controls 99

Network-based control 99

Labour market intermediaries 102

Poverty and debt 109

Norms, expectations and workplace cultures 114

Disciplining by proxy 121

Management by bureaucracy 123

Conclusion 125

6 Exogenous controls 129

Reduced ontological security 129

Entrenched inequality 132

Political-legal constraints 135

Socio-cultural controls 149

Human enhancements 152

Conclusion 156

7 Navigating the edges of acceptability 159

Evidence of worker consent? 159

Exploitative or 'decent quality' work? 162

Evidence of harm? 165

Evidence of knowledge, intent or motives? 167

Evidence of legal exemptions? 169

Conclusion 173

8 Preventing exploitation and harm 177

Documenting or preventing exploitation and harm? 177

Baselines; transnational governance 178

Baselines: national legal frameworks 183

Baselines: labour inspection regimes 191

Varieties of capitalism: harm reduction regimes 194

Varieties of capitalism: corporate structures 198

Capital-labour relations: trade unions 206

Capital-labour relations: worker inequality 214

Capital-labour relations: social movements 221

Conclusion 225

9 Conclusions 229

Notes 235

References 239

Index 269

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A cogent and compelling framework for identifying and tackling the systematic embeddedness of workplace exploitation." Mick Wilkinson, University of Hull

Editorial Reviews

Helps to reshape some common (mis)understandings of labour exploitation, and more broadly, harm in the workplace. It is a wide-ranging yet informative text for those who are interested in key features, processes and oversight of these areas. The themes explored in this book will be important reference points in future research across a range of disciplines.” Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books

From the Publisher

Labour Exploitation and Work-Based Harm helps to reshape some common (mis)understandings of labour exploitation, and more broadly, harm in the workplace. It is a wide-ranging yet informative text for those who are interested in key features, processes and oversight of these areas. The themes explored in this book will be important reference points in future research across a range of disciplines, especially given the increasing emphasis that researchers, policy makers and the public are placing on ‘modern slavery’ and labour exploitation.

Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books