Despotism on demand : how power operates in the flexible workplace

ISBN	9781501748882 (pbk.)
Call Number	HD5109 W873 2020
Author	Wood, Alex J.
Title	Despotism on demand : how power operates in the flexible workplace/ Alex J. Wood
Imprint	London : ILR Press, 2020.
Physical	ix, 192 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Summary	Despotism on Demand draws attention to the impact of flexible scheduling on managerial power and workplace control. When we understand paid work as a power relationship, argues Alex J. Wood, we see how the spread of precarious scheduling constitutes flexible despotism; a novel regime of control within the workplace. Wood believes that flexible despotism represents a new domain of inequality, in which the postindustrial working class increasingly suffers a scheduling nightmare. By investigating two of the largest retailers in the world he uncovers how control in the contemporary "flexible firm" is achieved through the insidious combination of "flexible discipline" and "schedule gifts." Flexible discipline provides managers with an arbitrary means by which to punish workers, but flexible scheduling also requires workers to actively win favor with managers in order to receive "schedule gifts": more or better hours. Wood concludes that the centrality of precarious scheduling to control means that for those at the bottom of the postindustrial labor market the future of work will increasingly be one of flexible despotism.
Subject	Flexible work arrangements--Great Britain
Subject	Flexible work arrangements--United States
Subject	Hours of labor--Great Britain
Subject	Hours of labor--United States
Subject	Precarious employment
Subject	Flexible work arrangements

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020 ^a9781501748882 (pbk.)

050 00^aHD5109^bW873 2020

100 0 ^aWood, Alex J.

245 00^aDespotism on demand :^bhow power operates in the flexible workplace/^cAlex J. Wood

260 ^aLondon :^bILR Press,^c2020.

300 ^aix, 192 p. :^bill. ;^c24 cm.

520 ^aDespotism on Demand draws attention to the impact of flexible scheduling on managerial power and workplace control. When we understand paid work as a power relationship, argues Alex J. Wood, we see how the spread of precarious scheduling constitutes flexible despotism; a novel regime of control within the workplace. Wood believes that flexible despotism represents a new domain of inequality, in which the postindustrial working class increasingly suffers a scheduling nightmare. By investigating two of the largest retailers in the world he uncovers how control in the contemporary "flexible firm" is achieved through the insidious combination of "flexible discipline" and "schedule gifts." Flexible discipline provides managers with an arbitrary means by which to punish workers, but flexible scheduling also requires workers to actively win favor with managers in order to receive "schedule gifts": more or better hours. Wood concludes that the centrality of precarious scheduling to control means that for those at the bottom of the postindustrial labor market the future of work will increasingly be one of flexible despotism.

650 0^aFlexible work arrangements^zGreat Britain 0^aFlexible work arrangements^zUnited States 0^aHours of labor^zGreat Britain 0^aHours of labor^zUnited States 0^aPrecarious employment 0^aFlexible work arrangements

917 ^aKN :^c1,000

955 ^a1 copy

999 ^anopparat

Category	Call number	Location	Status
	HD5109 W873 2020	General Books Zone	On shelf	Reserve

Despotism on demand : how power operates in the flexible workplace

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