Unpaid work

Taylor, Rebecca (2024) Unpaid work. In, McDonough, Brian and Parry, Jane (eds.) Sociology, Work, and Organisations: a Global Context. 1st ed. Taylor & Francis, pp. 225-238. (doi:10.4324/9781003314769-19).

Abstract

Unpaid work is an embedded feature of the global economy that takes many forms and these are defined and shaped by the context and the social relations in which the work is located. This chapter examines four distinct forms: volunteering, internships, platform work, and open source labour. These show the different levels of visibility and formality of unpaid work, and the blurred boundaries that exist between what is paid and what is not paid. They provide insight into the ways unpaid labour is shaped by divisions of class, race, and gender and highlight some of the global inequalities that underpin it. The chapter then seeks to make sense of unpaid work by looking at various theoretical frameworks that are used to explain why people work unpaid, and the role unpaid work plays in global capitalism. Gift exchange, immaterial labour, and symbolic labour each reveal different social structures and practices that shape work and labour. Finally, a broader theoretical question asks how people are able to commit to unpaid work if they are not being paid. This section examines how individuals and households organise and manage different interconnected forms of labour, whether paid or unpaid, or work that is inside and outside the home. It reveals how unpaid work is made possible by the support of other types of work and other resources. The case study features the experiences of a software developer juggling unpaid open source development with a job in a commercial global technology company and becoming a parent.

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Contributors

Author: Rebecca Taylor

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