Has Work Really Changed?

It’s worth dropping by Laurie Taylor’s Thinking Aloud radio programme every now and then for interesting snippets of sociological interest. Taylor used to be Professor of Sociology at York University and he is a great populariser for sociology and the social sciences. Today he is discussing the changing nature of work with Professor Kevin Doogan and the politics and sociology of climate change with Prof. Tony Giddens.

Taylor explains that Doogan takes a critical view of the idea that work is no longer quite so rigidly and hierarchically organised and that globalisation has ushered in an era of flexibility and opportunity. Um, what took them so long to work that one out? I’ve always felt the word ‘flexibility’ was thrown around rather too loosely and although I still keep hearing stories telling me that we’ll all have about 20 jobs in the future, I’ve yet to see any empirical evidence for these claims. [And while we’re on the topic, feel free to flick back to my ‘Shift Happens’ blog; the claim about flexibility is also made there].

Few AS/A level sociology students cover work and industry these days, but it’s worth a brief word or two in the course of covering topics like Families and Households, Education, and Crime.

How has/is the world of work changing these days and what impact does this have in those topic areas? Surely work shouldn’t be neglected - after all, we all spend most of our lives working and it forms a central chunk in many sociological theories.