Abstract
Work: A Critique, by Steven Vallas, is exactly what it says: a general overview and critical review of mostly sociological theories of work. The book follows a broadly chronological overview of theoretical developments in this area, interspersed with important sections on gender, race, ethnicity and diversity. Vallas focuses both on classic studies and recent innovative research. The book is concluded with a moderately hopeful discussion about the globalization of work and the gaps in the sociological study of work. In general, the book reviews many interesting sociological studies, exploring how their empirical findings relate to the various ‘managerial regimes’ propagated by human resource management theories. Work: A Critique is in this way also a testament to the creativity and flexibility of employees, who often have to work under difficult circumstances.
In the introduction to the book, Vallas points out that while paid employment is now commonly viewed as the only ‘real’ form of work, this is a fairly recent invention. Throughout history, there have been many forms of work – free and unfree, paid and unpaid. Vallas restricts the scope of the book to the study of paid employment, in particular to aid the enterprise of the sociology of work –why work is work, why it is organized as it is, and so on. The author presents concisely the major schools of thought on work. He acknowledges that it is sometimes difficult to find unifying factors in theories of work, but there are generally speaking three elements of work that sociologists do find beyond doubt: work is consequential for human life; work is more than an economic transaction; and finally, the practice of work almost always slightly departs from the formal rules of work (say in employee handbooks). Moreover, he defends the discussion of theoretical perspectives of work by referring to the uses theories have in problematizing certain phenomena, and the fact that much of the sociological theory of work has bases in political, environmental and perhaps technological circumstances. This is made clear through the sometimes detailed discussion of sociological studies that show the connection between the theory and practice of work.
The second chapter discusses and criticizes some well-known classics of Marxist labour theory, such as Labour Process Theory (LPT). Vallas shows that these theories are often overly deterministic and insensitive to cultural factors. Nonetheless, it is shown through recent empirical studies that there are ways to address this criticism and make LPT viable again as an analytical tool – moving away from structure to culture and other non-structural aspects of work. Interesting cases here are studies of how upscale hotels use cultural norms of looks and behaviour to ‘control’ employees, and the desire to add a ‘performative quality’ to working life so that one appears to be a ‘good employee’. But this chapter seems to ignore the international dimension of LPT discussions, and does not mention, for example, Chris Smith or Paul Thompson. The LPT school of thought is strongly related to Fordist and Taylorist ways of production, and the development of more flexible modes of production also lead to different answers to the question of managerial control over employees and work.
These are the subject of the third chapter. By and large this chapter focuses on different reactions to Michael Piore and Charles Sabel’s The Second Industrial Divide. That influential study argued that successful growth of firms was based on the existence of flexibility, in combination with a high-trust organization of work, e.g. through small teams that have comparatively much independence in organizing their work. Moreover, geographical proximity is seen as important, such as in the case of Silicon Valley or the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Vallas points out that the most important critical question regarding ‘flexiblework organization’ is whether it is yet another form of labour control or a new form of capitalism. His own research shows that flexible forms of work also enable employees to ‘subvert’ new structures to their own advantage and away from what the management intends. Finally, Vallas shows that the flexible organization of work as studied by Piore and Sabel rests perhaps fundamentally on institutional support. With the influence of neoliberal policies on social policy and union organization, the institutional support that enabled successful flexible organization may have disappeared.
The fourth chapter, which discusses gender theories of work, is the first of two chapters that discuss so-called ‘ascriptive inequalities’. This means that membership of a class of gender or ethnicity has influence on the allocation of work to persons. The chapter is quite US-focused and perhaps of less interest to readers in other countries, but it is nonetheless a very relevant chapter. Vallas discusses in fairly great detail how various studies have uncovered mechanisms of unequal allocation of work among the sexes. Human capital and other supply-side approaches fail to explain why women would prefer a role as a housewife rather than being at work, especially in light of converging achievements in education and evidence of employment commitment. On the other hand, structural approaches do seem to be able to explain why women are underrepresented in many higher functions. But Vallas points out that there is not very clear evidence of a worsening ‘glass ceiling’. The third approach discussed in this chapter concerns social networks and how they can either be conducive to equal allocation of work or in fact hinder this through entrenched patterns of racial or gender-based exclusion. The final issue Vallas discusses here is the devaluation of women’s work. Various studies are mentioned that have employed quantitative methods to establish a link between the relative presence of female employees in an occupation and its remuneration. Recent studies have shown that this dynamic is mostly the result of organizational politics.
The chapter on race, ethnicity and diversity continues in the same vein, but even more than the previous chapter is very US-focused. Even in an age where the President of America is black, there is still a great deal of inequality between different ethnicities. As Vallas points out, using many great sociological studies, the mechanisms of inequality are nonetheless more subtle, related to social networks and other informal ties. The final discussion in this chapter concerns construct of diversity as a business tool. On the face of it increasing diversity within firms seems like a good idea. But research has shown that (at least in the US) this diversity is seen as a business strategy rather than really a programme for reducing inequality. In the end, Vallas contends that corporations are doing too little rather than too much. Here, it would have been interesting to have a more global perspective, focusing for example on the diversity management literature that is part of the European studies of industrial relations, or on how foreign firms fare in Japan with its strong networks. Similarly, the discussion of gender quotas for corporate boards is absent, although this is perhaps a very European idea.
The final chapter before the conclusions deals with globalization. In particular, Vallas directs attention to the sociological studies of value-chains and export processing zones, as these are often the ones that are sociologically most interesting – unfortunately thanks to the circumstances of work in these zones. Research on China shows highly advanced (and punitive) versions of Taylorism in combination with pressure from kinship networks to stay employed. Vallas shows through many interesting studies that reality is more complex than advocates of neoliberalism assume, in particular regarding work. For example, studies relating to Walmart show that the company actively seeks low standards (of wages, labour protection) rather than merely applying them. Finally, the chapter analyses studies of social movements and other phenomena against the negative effects of globalization, such as the ‘No Sweatshop’ movements. According to Vallas it is unlikely that the ‘raw’ version of globalization can persist. Sooner or later a more humane version will come to exist.
The concluding chapter recaps the central findings of the sociology of work thus far, and although it is not a positive conclusion (revisiting the ‘jobless recovery’ and the effects of neoliberal economic policy), Vallas sees that even conservative thinkers and politicians are sensing a need for reform. Although Vallas is fairly critical of Ulrich Beck earlier in this book, he seems to embrace the need for ‘civil labour’.
I highly recommend this book. Although at times it is perhaps too US-centric, in general the book addresses all the important issues of work in our time. As a textbook for sociological theories of work it is perhaps not the best, but as a critique it works very well, especially since Vallas spends much time on valuable sociological studies to emphasize the critical points he makes. This way, the book is a useful addition to general discussions of working life (e.g. in newspapers), because it shows that ‘work’ is rather more complicated than being simply a resource for companies.