Market returns? Gender and theories of change in employment relations

This paper explores recent arguments about the marketization of female labour, in the context of a wider analysis of the role of concepts like 'the market' and 'individualization' in sociological accounts of change in employment relations. It will be argued that within sociology there has been a tendency for rapid, large-scale changes in employment relations to be characterized as the breakdown of social influences or structures and as the emergence of atomized, individuated market forces. In the most recent models, change in the nature of gendered positions within employment are presented in terms of a decline of social structuring and social constraint. These emergent accounts hold similarities to classical economics, and to Marx's and Weber's accounts of employment, which also characterized new forms of employment relations in terms of the emptying of their social content and their replacement by market forms. We offer an alternative, moral economy, perspective which foregrounds the continued significance of social relations in the structuring of employment and employment change. We develop the argument through an analysis of gendered patterns of employment and change in family form.     

Which probes are most useful when undertaking cognitive interviews?

This paper reports the use of verbal probes in cognitive interviews (CIs) undertaken to test the usefulness, validity and reliability of survey questions. Through examining the use of probes by three interviewers undertaking interviews as part the piloting of a cross-national crime survey, we examine which of the various types of probes used in CIs produce the most useful information. Other influences on interview quality are examined, including differences between interviewers and respondents themselves. The analyses rely on multi-level modelling and suggest that anticipated, emergent and conditional probes provide the most useful data. Furthermore, age, gender and educational levels appear to have no bearing on the quality of the data generated.     

What are the likely interactions among innovation,government debt,and employment?

The study here analyzes the interactions among labor, R&D intensity, and public expenditure on education (indicators of innovation), considering public debt of countries. The study is based on 27 European countries over the 1995–2009 and applies multiple regression analysis. Main findings seem to be: a significant interaction of public expenditure on education and R&D intensity with employment rate, whereas an increase of general government consolidated gross debt has a negative interaction for employment rate as well as for technology indicators. The theoretical framework and empirical evidence suggest vital political economy implications to support employment rate during contractions of the business cycle. In particular, considering the specificity of the economic structure of countries, a fruitful lung-run political economy of growth should slowly dry out public debt by supporting GDP growth, rather than reducing government debt with high taxation and balanced-budget rules, in order to decrease frictional effects for patterns of economic, technological, and employment growth.     

Family group conferencing in Dutch child welfare: Which families are most likely to organize a family group conference?

Aim of the present study was to identify which families involved in child welfare are willing to organize a Family Group conference (FGc; phase 1) and which are most likely to complete a conference (phase 2). Data were used of a Dutch randomized controlled trial (N = 229). First, the proportion of families willing to organize an FGc and actually completing a conference was determined. Then, for each of the phases, reasons for dropout according to parents, child welfare workers and FGC-coordinators were assessed and categorized and family characteristics were linked to completion rate. Results showed that 60% of the families (137 families) were willing to organize an FGc and 27% (62 families) eventually completed a conference. Reasons for dropout were lack of motivation, high-conflict divorce situations and need for other professional care. Broken and/or newly formed families were less likely to complete a conference, whereas families with indications for child maltreatment were more likely to complete a conference. Future research is needed to examine other possible explanations for the relatively low success rate, such as attitude of child welfare workers towards FGC and the lack of understanding of the aim of FGC by child welfare workers and families.     

Rural development in Brazil: are we practising feminism or gender?

Drawing on the experience of a state-sponsored rural development project, referred to as the Eagle River project, this article considers feminism and gender issues in rural Brazil, where agriculture is one of the livelihood strategies of poor men and women. Section 1 offers an overview of the project and the project area. Section 2 describes the lives of women in the Eagle River region where traditional values on division of labor, domestic roles of women, and gender hierarchies are still predominant. Section 3 highlights the objective of the project and activities designed to achieve its aim. Three main areas of work are being focused: community development, production development, and provision of rural credit. The project structure and decision-making powers are discussed in section 4. Sections 5 and 6 describe experiences in the project during its first 18 months and the challenges of incorporating gender into the project. Section 7 focuses on the development of the gender program. Section 8 outlines lessons learned out of the project outcome and the final section contains concluding messages.     

Unruly women and invisible workers: the shrimp traders of Mazatlán, Mexico

During the 1980s, a group of women from rural communities in the Mexican state of Sinaloa organized a grassroots social movement in order to gain legal access to the sale of shrimp. The movement reached its peak in 1984, with the formation of a shrimp traders union and the establishment of a shrimp marketplace in the tourist city of Mazatlán. Despite the long trajectory of the movement and the success of the shrimp market, these women and their work have been completely ignored by government agencies in charge of the development and management of the fishing industry. For the most part, one gets to read about the shrimp traders only in tourist-oriented brochures depicting them as a “local attraction,” something to be seen while one is touring the city on a private charter bus en route to the Archaeological Museum or to the upscale jewelry shops in the Golden Zone. In this article, I examine how women used their gender and their identity as rural workers to defy the state and its policies, overcome poverty, and take control of the local marketing of shrimp. Another objective of this article is to show why and how women engaged in collective action so they could be legitimized as workers and how gender shaped their individual experiences.     

Job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout in public child welfare workers: How different from other social workers?

The purpose of this research is to compare public child welfare workers' perception of job conditions, unmet expectations, and burnout to those of social workers in other settings. Using data from a sample of 408 social workers identified from a cross-sectional random survey of California registered social workers, a series of ANOVA and multiple regression analysis was performed. Results of ANOVA revealed that public child welfare workers experienced higher workloads, greater role conflict, and depersonalization, and had lower personal accomplishment. However, they had similar levels of unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion as other social workers. Adjusted for perceived job conditions and demographic characteristics, regression analyses revealed that public child welfare workers had significantly higher levels of depersonalization than those of private child welfare workers. Finally, workers in public settings exhibited significantly lower levels of personal accomplishment than social workers in private settings did, regardless of their practice field. Implications for organizational practices and future research are discussed.     

Is food safety a real concern in Mexico and Colombia? A preliminary report on a survey of small producers,retailers and consumers

Data that capture the impact of unsafe food in Mexico and Colombia are not readily available, yet are vital for well‐informed decisions to be taken towards reducing the problem. Using hierarchical cluster analyses, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi‐square tests, we analyzed 460 responses from small producers, retailers and consumers about food concerns and willingness to produce, sell or buy health‐certified food in these two countries. Food that is free of virus and bacteria was of concern to all respondents, and a small percentage reported suffering from food‐related illness. There has been investment in food‐safety certification, but the impact of this remains unknown. Producers and restaurants are far more interested in obtaining certification than are retailers. Consumers are willing to buy certified food even if it is expensive. This could provide an incentive to invest in food safety and spread its benefits.     

Who are the active and central actors in the ‘rising civil society’ in Mexico?

The debate about the rise of civil society in Mexico suggests that the processes of political and economic liberalization are multiple and uneven and, thus, have different and contradictory effects on different social groups. This study takes such arguments into account and examines the nature of collective identities and social networks that are more likely to be mobilized in the rising civil society. Who, with what types of social networks and identities, are the active actors in this rising civil society in Mexico? This study also attempts to identify the central actors who take an active part in multi-sector coalitions. As such a broad coalition often leaves profound effects on politics and society, it is vital to ask which actors are likely to take an important step toward multi-sector coalition making. Using a catalog of 1797 protest campaigns collected from three Mexican newspapers between 1964 and 2000, event frequency analysis is employed to find active actors and social network analysis – blockmodel method and degree centrality measure – is applied to uncover central actors. The analyses reveal that while workers, peasants, or students continue to be very active, the centrality of these actors in contentious networks and coalitions has not increased. New central actors in the rising civil society turn out to be civic associations and NGOs formed around single issues, such as environment, retirement, and human rights. When a multi-sector coalition occurs in contemporary Mexico, NGOs and civic associations are likely to play a crucial role in it.     

Demand shocks and employment adjustments: Does employment protection legislation create rigidity?

With state‐level panel data from the Indian manufacturing sector for 2000–12, and labour turnover as a proxy for employment adjustments, the authors estimate differential effects of demand shocks on employment adjustment across states with high and low levels of EPL. They find that EPL does not hinder employment adjustment; the response of labour separation rates to negative demand shocks is relatively higher in states with high levels of EPL, and labour turnover is inversely associated with EPL, which may be viewed as indicative of the beneficial effects of EPL for both enterprises and workers.     

New masculinities in universities? Discourses,ambivalence and potential change

In this article, we explore forms and possible implications of new masculinities in universities, and elucidate how they relate to hegemonic masculinity. ‘New masculinities’ coins a particular tradition of naming in Nordic masculinity studies. In the Nordic context, gendered social relations are shaped by State policies and equality discourses, which are increasingly embracing father‐friendly initiatives. New masculinities refers to the increased involvement of men in caring practices and especially in fathering. Our empirical study comprises in‐depth interviews with young male academics in a Finnish business school. We elucidate, first, the ambivalence and struggles between masculinities in the discourses of these men and, second, how the construction of masculinities is specific to societal, sociocultural and local contexts. Relations of class, and middle‐class notions of the ‘good life’ in particular, emerge as central for understanding the experiences of these men. Beyond the Nordic countries, we argue that while the change potential of caring masculinity stems from particular contexts, the concept of new masculinities is helpful in capturing the ambivalence and struggles between hegemonic and caring masculinities rather than dismissing the latter as subordinate to the former.     

Which pension?: women,risk and pension choice1

This paper investigates women's perceptions of choice and risk in the field of pensions. It extends on a paper published in a recent edition of this Journal in which Alan Aldridge applied Pierre Bourdieu's notions of cultural capital and habitus to the field of personal finance. Since the late 1980s the marketisation of pensions has resulted in an expansion of pension options. According to Anthony Giddens the expansion of choice is one of the positive aspects of living in a ‘risk society’. However, the expansion of pension choice has passed pension risks onto consumers. Using qualitative interviews this paper investigates the perceptions of 45 employed women aged 40–59 of the risks associated with choosing a pension. At the theoretical level the paper seeks to demonstrate the need to qualify notions of reflexive decision‐making put forward by Giddens by emphasising the role of habitual action in decision‐making, as put forward by Bourdieu. The paper shows that material circumstances, cultural capital, extent and quality of pension information and habitus affect perceptions of pension choice and pension risks. The paper concludes that the expansion of pension choice has been, in many ways, negative rather than positive and thus is likely to lead to increasing poverty among many women in later life.     

Contesting identity of Taiwanese home-care workers: Worker,daughter, and do-gooder?

One of the administrative dilemmas in home-care delivery is that an appropriate and trusting relationship between the home-care worker and the client must be developed; yet this relationship is not readily visible to service managers. Setting up organizational processes for building allegiance and turning the home-care worker into an ideal one become major administrative tasks for home-care managers. Within such organizational context, the home-care worker is then faced with the issue of developing her own identity. This study lays out the Chinese particulars of what being a home-care worker is all about on the ground in Taiwan. In the Chinese context of family and cultural prerogatives around filial daughter and doing good, being a worker (agency perspective) and being a daughter (client's desire) are both problematic. Many home-care workers view themselves as a do-gooder portrayed by the Buddhist discourse of karma. The findings suggest that administrative tasks, client, and worker relationship may appear similar on the surface but the dynamics are quite different.     

Which fathers are the most involved in taking care of their toddlers in the UK? An investigation of the predictors of paternal involvement

Economic provisioning continues to be the essence of ‘good’ fathering, and the work schedules associated with fathers' employment remain a key factor which shapes their involvement in childcare and domestic work at home. However, the relative impact of fathers' and mothers' employment hours on paternal involvement in childcare is unclear, and little is known about the longer-term impact, that is, whether a work arrangement organised when the child is under a year old has an impact on paternal involvement when the child is aged three. Here we focus on employed couples and explore the association that mothers' and fathers' employment hours have with paternal involvement when their child is three years old. Multivariate analysis using the UK's Millennium Cohort Study reveals that it is the mothers' employment hours when the child is aged three that has the largest association with paternal involvement in childcare at this stage in the child's life, independent of what hours the father works. Furthermore, both fathers' and mothers' employment hours when the child was nine months old have a longitudinal influence on paternal involvement when the child reaches three years old, but it is the hours worked by the mother when the child was aged nine months that has the stronger association with paternal involvement at age three. This suggests that mothers' work schedules are more important than fathers' for fostering greater paternal involvement in both the immediate and longer term.     

Negligence in placement and supervision of children in foster care: Are social workers liable?

Social workers may be monetarily liable for negligent performance of placement and supervision of children in foster care. In states where the state retains sovereign immunity those professional activities may be considered ministerial rather than discretionary functions and so not entitled to the immunity from suit which the state enjoys. Careful attention to designated procedures may protect the worker from allegations of negligence.     

Introduction: What does the future promise for work,employment and society?

In introducing this double Special Issue, the authors draw on the articles contained therein to highlight the main areas for consideration in research on the future of work. They present the fast‐paced changes affecting the world of work as offering an opportunity to move towards equality‐inducing growth, while warning of the dangers posed by mismanaged technological change, inequalities (highlighting the persistent and intersectional nature of gender inequality), global supply chains and opportunities for social dialogue. In this light, they also propose policy recommendations focusing on strengthening worker protection and representative institutions, rethinking regulatory frameworks and taxation systems, and ensuring just transitions.     

Work–family conflict and job insecurity: are workers from different generations experiencing true differences?

This paper explores the question whether workers of different generations significantly diverge in their perceptions of work–family conflict and job insecurity and implications of such differences on affective commitment and job satisfaction. Given the explorative nature of this study, we use a multi-method approach which relies on a focus group with Italian graduated students and on a field study with workers from an Italian food processing company respectively grouped in three generational cohorts: Baby Boomers, gen Xers, and Millennials. Overall, our findings demonstrate that workers belonging to different generational cohorts display divergent perceptions of work–family conflict and job insecurity. However, the effects of such perceptions on work attitudes are not directly correlated with the experienced levels of job insecurity and work–family conflict. That is, although Millennials tend to perceive a higher level of job insecurity than Baby Boomers and gen Xers, job insecurity is more likely to produce negative consequences on work attitudes among Baby Boomers and gen Xers rather than among Millennials. Notably, our findings indicate that there are no significant differences with regard to the effects of work–family conflict on affective commitment and job satisfaction among the three generational cohorts considered.     

Brexit and precarity: Polish female workers in the UK as second-class citizens?

Immigration was a decisive factor in pre-Brexit-vote debates and it remains one of the most divisive topics globally; therefore, it is worthy of attention. Whilst the British people had an opportunity to have their say on Brexit, EU migrant workers have not. This article gives them a voice as it is based on original data from 40 qualitative interviews with female EU citizens to the UK, conducted before and after the Brexit-vote. This article further develops the notion of precarity in relation to EU migrants to the UK in light of Brexit and adds to debates on gender in migration. This paper provides wider policy implications for the British and other EU countries' authorities as it engages with debates on Brexit from the point of view of the UK labour force as voices of economic women migrants from Poland are presented.