The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop. Changing Contours of Work is an exploration of the American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy. Presented with engaging vignettes and rich data, this Fourth Edition shows the reader how the "old economy" is now operating within the "new economy" and how that integration shapes the development of work opportunities. Authors Stephen Sweet and Peter Meiksins use an international comparative perspective, revealing the historical transformations of work and identifying the profound effects that these changes have had on lives, jobs, and life chances. This text supports the reader's understanding of the origins of current problems confronting working people in the new economy, and contributes to a much-needed dialogue about the strategies for liberating workers from poverty, drudgery, discrimination, stress, and exploitation.

Table of Contents:
List of Exhibits About the Authors Preface to the Fourth Edition Acknowledgments 1. Mapping the Contours of Work Scenes From the New Economy Culture and Work Structure and Work Class Structures Job Markets and Job Demands Demography and the New Labor Force Agency and Careers Conclusion 2. New Products, New Ways of Working, and the New Economy A Postindustrial Society? The End of Mass Production? New Skills? Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace High-Tech Work New Cultures of Control? Technological Change and a Jobless Future? Rigid Jobs or Flexible Jobs? The End of Organized Labor? A New Global Economy? Conclusion 3. Economic Inequality, Social Mobility, and the New Economy Are Economic Divides Narrowing or Widening in the United States? Are Career Pathways Opening or Closing? Missing Rungs in the Ladder Entry Points: Securing the Good Job in Young Adulthood Exclusion Owing to Criminal Conviction Is the Global Economy Becoming More Flat or Bumpy? Conclusion 4. Whose Jobs Are Secure? Risk and Work: Historical and Comparative Views How Insecure Are Workers in the New Economy? The Costs of Job Loss and Insecurity Old and New Careers Risk, Well-Being and Retirement The Dawn of the Gig Economy Conclusion 5. A Fair Day’s Work? The Intensity and Scheduling of Jobs in the New Economy Time, Intensity, and Work How Much Should We Work? Comparative Frameworks Why Are Americans Working So Much? Nonstandard Schedules: Jobs in a 24/7 Economy How Americans Deal With Overwork Conclusion 6. Gender Chasms in the New Economy When Did Home Work Become Nonwork? Women’s Participation in the Paid Labor Force in America Gender Inequalities in Compensation Socialization, Career Selection, and Career Paths Interpersonal Discrimination in the Workplace Structural Dimensions of Gender Discrimination The Devaluation of “Women’s Work” How Job Designs Discriminate Strategies to Bridge the Care Gaps: International Comparisons Conclusion 7. Race, Ethnicity, and Work: Legacies of the Past, Problems in the Present Histories of Race, Ethnicity, and Work African American Exceptionality The Immigrant Experience Magnitude of Racial Inequality in the New Economy Intergenerational Transmission of Resources Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Capital Race, Ethnicity, and Human Capital Race, Ethnicity, and Social Capital Race, Ethnicity, and Cultural Capital Geographic Distribution of Race and Work Opportunity Racial Prejudice and Discrimination Racialized Jobs Race, Ethnicity, and Work: Social Policy Organizational Strategies Affirmative Action Immigration Policy Conclusion 8. Reshaping the Contours of the New Economy Opportunity Chasms Class Chasms Gender Chasms Racial and Ethnic Chasms International Chasms Agents of Change Individuals Activist, Advocacy, and Interest Groups Unions and Organized Labor Employers Government International Organizations and International Controls Conclusion Appendix: Legislative and Regulatory Time Line of Worker Rights and Protections in the United States References Index