Consultation with employees is something about which there has been little research in the mariti... more Consultation with employees is something about which there has been little research in the maritime industry. Still less has there been research that compares the situation in the industry to the situation on land. In an attempt to make some contribution to this we have compared some of the results we arrived at for car carrier crews and those arrived at in the British WERS 98 survey from which we took some of our questions. Several comments are in order about this.
... 18 The floating wage (fudong gongzi) (discussed further below) is a reward/penalty system typ... more ... 18 The floating wage (fudong gongzi) (discussed further below) is a reward/penalty system typical of the mills visited. ... goes so far as to insist that his story is not true and cannot be true; at other times, the ritual of storytelling is ... Does it include a concern with national identity? ...
The working world has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and is often referred to as a t... more The working world has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and is often referred to as a transformation from Fordism to post-Fordism. A comprehensive selection of contributors investigate this shift.
This paper is concerned with the situation where goods are produced by workers in underdeveloped ... more This paper is concerned with the situation where goods are produced by workers in underdeveloped countries, in this case, consumer durables, under the direction of managements which have access to modern management techniques. In particular, it considers the significance of new management methods, especially Total Quality Management, for workers employed in whitegoods manufacture in Turkey. It uses interviews and survey data from three plants in the Turkish whitegoods industry. Where possible comparative data from the British WERS 98 survey is introduced in order to help avoid false judgements about what is exceptional or different. The paper considers how and what managers know of new management techniques. It examines the nature of their implementation with respect to local conditions, especially with reference to ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ versions of TQM; and it seeks to show how workers’ evaluation of such workplaces is itself grounded in the particularities of their broader locally bas...
It is estimated that in the UK alone it there are over 20,000 deaths each year that are attributa... more It is estimated that in the UK alone it there are over 20,000 deaths each year that are attributable to ill health or injuries related to work. In addition, more than 25,000 people leave employment as a result of work-related injury or illness, and more than two million suffer from ill health which in their view was caused or made worse by their work, leading to the loss of more than 30 million working days each year (James and Walters, 2005). Given that the UK is apparently a comparatively good performer according to analysis of the experience of work-related injuries and fatalities in the European Union (EU), this suggests that the scale of this harm is proportionally even higher in most other countries. This represents a massive burden of human suffering; but there is no great mystery surrounding its origin. It is primarily the result of failures of management in the discharge of employers’ legal duties to protect the health and safety of their workers, and as such it is largely preventable.
Worker Representation and Workplace Health and Safety, 2007
Two important sets of distinctions that need to be made when considering the issue of representat... more Two important sets of distinctions that need to be made when considering the issue of representation in health and safety at work are whether managers relate to workers on an individual basis or whether they do so through their collective representatives; and whether workers are passive recipients of information about the practice of health and safety management or have some chance to influence the direction of the outcomes of such engagement.
The end of the Second World War was followed by what is now widely looked back upon in the advanc... more The end of the Second World War was followed by what is now widely looked back upon in the advanced industrial societies as a golden age of growth. The coming to an end of this period, for many people clearly marked by OPEC’s decision to quadruple the price of oil in 1973, has been attributed to a variety of different causes, including not least a rise in wages as a consequence of the strengthening of labour, which had been brought about on the back of full employment and an increased sense of security engendered by the post-war welfare state. As Armstrong et al. (1991: 172) put it: ‘In full employment lay both the historic achievement of the boom and its undoing.’ The difficulties raised by full employment manifested themselves most obviously in accelerating inflation. A less noticeable but ultimately more crucial problem was a general decline in profitability. As long as the boom had continued, it had been accompanied by a rise in the mass production — and mass consumption — of durable goods. In the advanced capitalist countries GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GDP per capita grew almost twice as fast as in any previous period since 1820. The growth in the volume of trade was eight times faster in 1950–73 than in the period 1913–50 and twice as great as in the century from 1820. World trade in manufactured goods grew eight-fold (Glyn et al. 1990: 42).
In 2003 and 2004 we conducted research into the lives of seafarers who work on car carriers. Surv... more In 2003 and 2004 we conducted research into the lives of seafarers who work on car carriers. Survey data on 627 seafarers, which were collected as part of this, constitute one of the major research materials upon which Part II is based; others include 109 days of observations conducted on board six car carriers; further in-depth conversations with seafarers on board and in port; seafarer diaries; and interviews with 40 maritime car carrier managers and 10 trade union officials.
In his 1936 film Modern Times Charlie Chaplin plays a shipyard worker, a department store night w... more In his 1936 film Modern Times Charlie Chaplin plays a shipyard worker, a department store night watchman, a singing waiter and a prisoner — but it is the idea of the assembly-line worker struggling against the dehumanising effects of the machine that most people probably remember. For much of the post-war period, this idea was captured in the social sciences by two concepts above all others: ‘alienation’ and ‘Fordism’. It might well be claimed that this is what the leading and most-read works of industrial sociology used to be about.
Although road traffic accidents are a matter of considerable public concern in Turkey, they have ... more Although road traffic accidents are a matter of considerable public concern in Turkey, they have attracted little systematic analysis from social scientists. This paper seeks to examine accident trends from 1955 to 1995, in terms of changes in fatalities per vehicle as well as fatalities per head of population. It then critically surveys the adequacy and applicability to the Turkish case of theories of motorization and accidents and of risk compensation and homeostasis. Finally, the paper speculates on how accident variation over time in Turkey may relate to wider social and economic processes.
A sociological look at the attitudes of the British worker. Theo Nichols attempts to destroy the ... more A sociological look at the attitudes of the British worker. Theo Nichols attempts to destroy the work-shy label.
Consultation with employees is something about which there has been little research in the mariti... more Consultation with employees is something about which there has been little research in the maritime industry. Still less has there been research that compares the situation in the industry to the situation on land. In an attempt to make some contribution to this we have compared some of the results we arrived at for car carrier crews and those arrived at in the British WERS 98 survey from which we took some of our questions. Several comments are in order about this.
... 18 The floating wage (fudong gongzi) (discussed further below) is a reward/penalty system typ... more ... 18 The floating wage (fudong gongzi) (discussed further below) is a reward/penalty system typical of the mills visited. ... goes so far as to insist that his story is not true and cannot be true; at other times, the ritual of storytelling is ... Does it include a concern with national identity? ...
The working world has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and is often referred to as a t... more The working world has changed dramatically over the last 50 years and is often referred to as a transformation from Fordism to post-Fordism. A comprehensive selection of contributors investigate this shift.
This paper is concerned with the situation where goods are produced by workers in underdeveloped ... more This paper is concerned with the situation where goods are produced by workers in underdeveloped countries, in this case, consumer durables, under the direction of managements which have access to modern management techniques. In particular, it considers the significance of new management methods, especially Total Quality Management, for workers employed in whitegoods manufacture in Turkey. It uses interviews and survey data from three plants in the Turkish whitegoods industry. Where possible comparative data from the British WERS 98 survey is introduced in order to help avoid false judgements about what is exceptional or different. The paper considers how and what managers know of new management techniques. It examines the nature of their implementation with respect to local conditions, especially with reference to ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ versions of TQM; and it seeks to show how workers’ evaluation of such workplaces is itself grounded in the particularities of their broader locally bas...
It is estimated that in the UK alone it there are over 20,000 deaths each year that are attributa... more It is estimated that in the UK alone it there are over 20,000 deaths each year that are attributable to ill health or injuries related to work. In addition, more than 25,000 people leave employment as a result of work-related injury or illness, and more than two million suffer from ill health which in their view was caused or made worse by their work, leading to the loss of more than 30 million working days each year (James and Walters, 2005). Given that the UK is apparently a comparatively good performer according to analysis of the experience of work-related injuries and fatalities in the European Union (EU), this suggests that the scale of this harm is proportionally even higher in most other countries. This represents a massive burden of human suffering; but there is no great mystery surrounding its origin. It is primarily the result of failures of management in the discharge of employers’ legal duties to protect the health and safety of their workers, and as such it is largely preventable.
Worker Representation and Workplace Health and Safety, 2007
Two important sets of distinctions that need to be made when considering the issue of representat... more Two important sets of distinctions that need to be made when considering the issue of representation in health and safety at work are whether managers relate to workers on an individual basis or whether they do so through their collective representatives; and whether workers are passive recipients of information about the practice of health and safety management or have some chance to influence the direction of the outcomes of such engagement.
The end of the Second World War was followed by what is now widely looked back upon in the advanc... more The end of the Second World War was followed by what is now widely looked back upon in the advanced industrial societies as a golden age of growth. The coming to an end of this period, for many people clearly marked by OPEC’s decision to quadruple the price of oil in 1973, has been attributed to a variety of different causes, including not least a rise in wages as a consequence of the strengthening of labour, which had been brought about on the back of full employment and an increased sense of security engendered by the post-war welfare state. As Armstrong et al. (1991: 172) put it: ‘In full employment lay both the historic achievement of the boom and its undoing.’ The difficulties raised by full employment manifested themselves most obviously in accelerating inflation. A less noticeable but ultimately more crucial problem was a general decline in profitability. As long as the boom had continued, it had been accompanied by a rise in the mass production — and mass consumption — of durable goods. In the advanced capitalist countries GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GDP per capita grew almost twice as fast as in any previous period since 1820. The growth in the volume of trade was eight times faster in 1950–73 than in the period 1913–50 and twice as great as in the century from 1820. World trade in manufactured goods grew eight-fold (Glyn et al. 1990: 42).
In 2003 and 2004 we conducted research into the lives of seafarers who work on car carriers. Surv... more In 2003 and 2004 we conducted research into the lives of seafarers who work on car carriers. Survey data on 627 seafarers, which were collected as part of this, constitute one of the major research materials upon which Part II is based; others include 109 days of observations conducted on board six car carriers; further in-depth conversations with seafarers on board and in port; seafarer diaries; and interviews with 40 maritime car carrier managers and 10 trade union officials.
In his 1936 film Modern Times Charlie Chaplin plays a shipyard worker, a department store night w... more In his 1936 film Modern Times Charlie Chaplin plays a shipyard worker, a department store night watchman, a singing waiter and a prisoner — but it is the idea of the assembly-line worker struggling against the dehumanising effects of the machine that most people probably remember. For much of the post-war period, this idea was captured in the social sciences by two concepts above all others: ‘alienation’ and ‘Fordism’. It might well be claimed that this is what the leading and most-read works of industrial sociology used to be about.
Although road traffic accidents are a matter of considerable public concern in Turkey, they have ... more Although road traffic accidents are a matter of considerable public concern in Turkey, they have attracted little systematic analysis from social scientists. This paper seeks to examine accident trends from 1955 to 1995, in terms of changes in fatalities per vehicle as well as fatalities per head of population. It then critically surveys the adequacy and applicability to the Turkish case of theories of motorization and accidents and of risk compensation and homeostasis. Finally, the paper speculates on how accident variation over time in Turkey may relate to wider social and economic processes.
A sociological look at the attitudes of the British worker. Theo Nichols attempts to destroy the ... more A sociological look at the attitudes of the British worker. Theo Nichols attempts to destroy the work-shy label.
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