1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454006103321

Autore

Ross Andrew <1956->

Titolo

Nice work if you can get it [[electronic resource] ] : life and labor in precarious times / / Andrew Ross

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New York University Press, c2009

ISBN

0-8147-7739-2

0-8147-7635-3

1-4416-1568-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (273 p.)

Collana

NYU series in social and cultural analysis

Disciplina

331.6/2

Soggetti

Employment in foreign countries

Foreign workers

Globalization

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-243) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The Mercurial Career of Creative Industries Policymaking in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States -- 2 China’s Next Cultural Revolution? -- 3 The Olympic Goose That Lays the Golden Egg -- 4 Teamsters, Turtles, and Tainted Toys -- 5 Learning from San Ysidro -- 6 The Copyfight over Intellectual Property -- 7 The Rise of the Global University -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

2009 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleIs job insecurity the new norm? With fewer and fewer people working in steady, long-term positions for one employer, has the dream of a secure job with full benefits and a decent salary become just that—a dream?In Nice Work If You Can Get It, Andrew Ross surveys the new topography of the global workplace and finds an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven development on a massive scale. Combining detailed case studies with lucid analysis and graphic prose, he looks at what the new landscape of contingent employment means for workers across national, class, and racial lines—from the emerging “creative class” of



high-wage professionals to the multitudes of temporary, migrant, or low-wage workers. Developing the idea of “precarious livelihoods” to describe this new world of work and life, Ross explores what it means in developed nations—comparing the creative industry policies of the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, as well as developing countries—by examining the quickfire transformation of China’s labor market. He also responds to the challenge of sustainability, assessing the promise of “green jobs” through restorative alliances between labor advocates and environmentalists.Ross argues that regardless of one’s views on labor rights, globalization, and quality of life, this new precarious and “indefinite life,&” and the pitfalls and opportunities that accompany it is likely here to stay and must be addressed in a systematic way. A more equitable kind of knowledge society emerges in these pages—less skewed toward flexploitation and the speculative beneficiaries of intellectual property, and more in tune with ideals and practices that are fair, just, and renewable.