Conclusion: New ways of working

Parry, Jane and McDonough, Brian (2024) Conclusion: New ways of working. In, McDonough, Brian and Parry, Jane (eds.) Sociology, Work, and Organisations: A global context. 1 ed. Oxford. Routledge, pp. 323-336. (doi:10.4324/9781003314769-28).

Abstract

In the final chapter of this textbook, the editors draw together key reoccurring themes and reflect on them for studying the future of work. For increasing parts of the workforce, paid work has become less secure and standardised, with growing concerns around job quality or ‘decent work’. Work is becoming organised in more diverse ways and the pandemic catalysed organisations’ experimentation with remote and hybrid working. As work continues to shift and evolve, intersectionality sheds light on how overlapping inequalities meaningfully shape lived experiences. With work more spatially dislocated, and digitalisation playing into this, workers have found new ways of demonstrating their resistance. The second part of the chapter explains how research methods can be applied and adapted to study a changing world of work. For example, secondary or online data can enable researchers to access populations across the world, and longitudinal data is valuable in understanding work changes over time. A core part of investigating work is research ethics, the implementation of research in a way that is transparent, secure for participants, and causes no harm. The chapter closes by introducing some resources – first-hand accounts, films, and datasets - to stimulate readers’ exploration of the fast-changing global context of work.

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Contributors

Author: Jane Parry

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