Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/321950 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press, Oxford
Abstract: 
This book introduces a theory of the politics of unpaid labour, advancing our understanding of inequality within the context of precarious work. Arguing that this theory can help address the inequalities perpetuating the dynamics and processes underpinning stigma which surround the rise of precarious work under labour market reforms and societal and technological changes, the book forges a link between the micro properties of the social system and its macro-level structural patterns. The former relates to the motivations and meanings individuals attribute to the unpaid labour they perform in a context where employment is precarious, while the latter refers to how individuals build resilience through sustaining unpaid labour by accessing resources found within the private, social, and financial sphere of the family as well as in regulatory arrangements at the level of the state and other social institutions. The book's empirical section is based on extensive research comparing meanings of unpaid labour in creative dance, residential care, and online freelancing in Europe. The theoretical section advances current discussion in three ways. First, it establishes the characteristics differentiating employment from self-employment, and how these lead to a revised definition of unpaid labour. Second, it illustrates that unpaid labour is both shaped by class and serves to reproduce class interests, revealing ongoing changes in welfare, employment, and state institutional policies. Third, it considers the necessity to establish conditions within the labour market conducive to genuinely cultivating and honouring the diversity of human capabilities and actions within labour structures and promoting their manifestation.
Subjects: 
economic sociology
sociology of work
welfare
employment
and labour markets
political economy
unpaid labour
class
inequality
precarious work
stigma
resilience
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
9780191995002
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Book

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.