Labour in a Global World: Case Studies from the White Goods Industry in Africa, South America, East Asia and Europe

by T. Nichols, S. Cam

Overview

This book gets behind much generality about globalisation to examine the production of relatively familiar commodities such as refrigerators and ovens in different countries. By considering a range of countries - China, Taiwan and South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey - it makes a substantive contribution to the understanding of the diffusion of management methods, the role of the state in employee relations, the nature of trade unionism and the impact of social structure on production relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349520176
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/04/2016
Series:	Future of Work
Edition description:	1st ed. 2005
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

THEO NICHOLS is Distinguished Research Professor, in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK. He has written widely in the general field of economic sociology, including ownership and control, management and management ideology, class consciousness, productivity and industrial injuries. His latest book, on Turkish workers and modern industry, Global Management and Local Labour (written with Nadir Sugur) was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2004.

SURHAN CAM was formerly Research Fellow at the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. He is currently Research Fellow at the Working Lives Research Institute, London Metropolitan University, where he is engaged in a survey on the problem-solving strategies of unorganised workers in Britain. He has a special interest in neo-liberalism.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures Preface Acknowledgements The World of White Goods - Markets, Industry Structure and Dynamics The View from the UK: Mature Markets, High Imports and Other Problems South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe: White Goods in Post-Colonial Societies China: The Rise of the Foreign Investment and the Transformation of Labour Relations Taiwan: The Disappearance of the 'Golden Tale' - Employment Relations in a Japanese Joint Venture Turkey: White Goods in the 'EU Periphery' Brazil: Between Global Trends and National Politics - Restructuring and Workers' Responses Labour in a Global World - Some Comparisons Index

Editorial Reviews

'This book makes an innovative contribution to our understanding of the ways in which workers across the world experience both the dynamic and uneven character of contemporary globalisation. The authors develop a systematic comparison of work and employment relations in factories in the same sector across many countries, and set this in the context of both national political and market conditions and wider international processes of market rivalry and corporate concentration. As such they demonstrate the great value of a comparative approach to contemporary industrial change.' - Tony Elger, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK

An illuminating comparison between employment strategies in Britain and three countries in south-east Asia.' - The Financial Times

From the Publisher