A new book co-edited by York Professors Norene Pupo and Mark Thomas will receive its official launch Thursday, March 25 at a special reception from 3 to 5pm in 626 York Research Tower.
Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is a collection of original essays investigating the social, political and economic transformations associated with the emergence of the so-called new economy, and their impact on the organization of work within Canada.
The essays discuss the ways in which new management strategies, new communication technologies and efforts to revitalize the labour movement have transformed the Canadian workplace. Focusing on changes in work organization, individuals’ expectations regarding work and the institutional support provided for workers and their families, the text constructs a critical analysis of the "new economy" in order to identify both the potential for quality work experiences and the ways in which the organization of work remains a profound social problem.
Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed, but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain.
The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the new economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on call centre service work and migrant workers. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.
Pupo is the director of the Centre for Research on Work & Society at York University and a sociology professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). She is the co-author of Part-Time Paradox: Connecting Gender, Work and Family (McClelland & Stewart, 1992).
Thomas is also a professor of sociology in LA& PS at York University. He is the author of Regulating Flexibility: The Political Economy of Employment Standards (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009).
The event will include a panel of speakers discussing some of the book’s themes. Participating on the panel are: York political science Professor Greg Albo; York geography Professor Steve Tufts; Ryerson sociology Professor Andie Noack; York social science and women’s studies Professor Linda Briskin; Naveen Mehta, director of human rights, equity & diversity for the United Food and Commercial Workers; Angelo DiCaro, national communications representative for the Canadian Auto Workers union; Ryerson sociology Professor Alan Sears; and Jorge Garcia-Orgales, a researcher with the United Steelworkers Canadian office.
For more information about the launch, contact Robin Smith, administrator at the Centre for Research on Work & Society, at 416-736-5612.
The launch of Interrogating the New Economy: Restructuring Work in the 21st Century is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Press and the following York University programs and units: the Centre for Research on Work & Society, the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Program in Sociology, Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought, Graduate Program in Women’s Studies, the Labour Studies Program, Gender & Work Database, Centre for Feminist Research and the York University Staff Association.