Business & Economics

In this important book, Gallas asks what strikes in non-industrial sectors mean for class formation, a critical question which has been largely unaddressed by the current literature on global labour unrest.

A mapping of strikes around the world and case studies from Germany, Britain and Spain cast new light on class relations, struggles around waged and unwaged work and labour movements in contemporary capitalism to bring class theory back to labour studies.

This is a valuable resource for academics and students of employment relations, sociology and politics.

This second volume focuses on empirical strike research.

Generation Z has grown up with a global financial crisis, a pandemic, the climate emergency, growing autocracy and wars. Survival, not just equity, is at stake.

As debate rages about how to ensure a fairer and sustainable society, this book challenges short-sighted economic policies, asking where we want to be in 20 years’ time and how we might get there.

Offering fresh, and sometimes counterintuitive, thinking on a range of economic issues including monetary policy, housing and university funding, it argues in favour of policy guardrails to protect the future, higher interest rates, and a burst of inflation. Robots and AI should be seen as positive replacements for population growth.

This is an original, readable and entertaining take on how we can change course before it is too late.

Based on decades of research, this book explores global social change processes through the concepts of social change organisations (SCOs) and social change makers (SCMs) – the individuals working within and alongside SCOs.

The book delves into a vast array of compelling social justice issues, from tackling inequality to championing human rights, bridging the realms of social movement and third sector research.

Inspiring and empowering, this is essential reading for scholars, students, NGOs and activists alike.

It is impossible to view the news at present without hearing talk of crisis.

This timely book looks at how three major crises – the economy, pandemic and climate – are related to the crisis of work, making it more precarious, intense and unequal.

Providing an original and critical synthesis of recent trends in the field, expert scholars offer a programme for transcending the crisis of work.

Offering a timely contribution to understanding the important issues facing the world, this book presents an important new way of thinking about work in contemporary societies.

This book injects a burst of energy into the sociology of work, offering a perspective that is both innovative and deeply informed.

Leading sociology of work scholar, Marek Korczynski, praises the discipline’s comprehensive approach to theory, its focus on uncovering power dynamics and its ability to reveal how social injustices often stem from workplace inequalities. Offering an accessible overview of the field, the book:

· analyses both the social structures around work and the voice and agency of workers;

· examines the role and impact of artificial intelligence at work; · provides a consistent thread on gig work, service work and knowledge work;

· has an end-section in each chapter where students are asked to put their sociological imagination to work on relevant topics.

This is an enlightening exploration of sociology of work, and of the evolving world of work itself.

This book injects a burst of energy into the sociology of work, offering a perspective that is both innovative and deeply informed.

Leading sociology of work scholar, Marek Korczynski, praises the discipline’s comprehensive approach to theory, its focus on uncovering power dynamics and its ability to reveal how social injustices often stem from workplace inequalities. Offering an accessible overview of the field, the book:

· analyses both the social structures around work and the voice and agency of workers;

· examines the role and impact of artificial intelligence at work; · provides a consistent thread on gig work, service work and knowledge work;

· has an end-section in each chapter where students are asked to put their sociological imagination to work on relevant topics.

This is an enlightening exploration of sociology of work, and of the evolving world of work itself.

This book explores data science in practice through an ethnographic study at a global marketing technology and research firm.

The book shows that, while businesses have embraced data science methods to understand markets and consumers, in practice they produce too much information. Consequently, they must be combined with creative practices that simplify and make sense of analytics. Cluley shows that in the age of data science, business is increasingly artistic. In this case, marketing science is more like marketing science fiction.

This is essential reading for understanding contemporary data-driven business and marketing as well as social and economic relations in the age of surveillance capitalism, with lessons for academics and students of marketing, technology and data science.

Pension policy in the UK and US is designed on the assumption that people make informed financial decisions, consistently invest in pensions and manage diverse portfolios. Deviating from this is often deemed irresponsible and irrational. However, this assumption overlooks uncontrollable factors like caring duties, employment breaks or income limitations. Even when individuals act as expected, unpredictable market shifts can hinder long-term planning.

This book redefines deviations to “rational behaviour” as logical responses to a dysfunctional system. Challenging existing theoretical discussions and policy approaches, it proposes a fresh perspective on rationality when it comes to financial practices and policy.

Today drag has an unprecedented mass cultural appeal. Reaching far beyond traditional queer venues and audiences into the mainstream, it has evolved into a booming industry worth millions of dollars.

Drag is art, politics, lifestyle and entertainment all in one. Yet, studies examining its market value as a product, brand or consumption practice remain scarce. This interdisciplinary collection fills that void, exploring the intersection of drag and markets.

Written by an international group of scholars exploring cases from Europe, Asia and the US, this will be a key resource for anyone curious about drag’s social, political and economic impact.

Moomins, beloved troll creatures of Moominvalley, have captivated hearts worldwide since the 1940s.

This book unveils the Moomin business management journey, from Tove Jansson's creations to a global art-based brand and a growing ecosystem of companies. Emphasising generosity as a key management principle, it champions caring for people as vital for a thriving organisation.

Generosity, rooted in love, courage and belief in equality, shapes the Moomin ethos, underpinning not just the brand, but also strategic partnerships, engagement with technologies and the virtual world.

Offering rare insights from the Moomin inner circle, this management guide advocates sustainable practices. It unveils the keys to a business devoted to comforting people and fostering good, inspiring a blueprint for lasting success.

Moomins, beloved troll creatures of Moominvalley, have captivated hearts worldwide since the 1940s.

This book unveils the Moomin business management journey, from Tove Jansson's creations to a global art-based brand and a growing ecosystem of companies. Emphasising generosity as a key management principle, it champions caring for people as vital for a thriving organisation.

Generosity, rooted in love, courage and belief in equality, shapes the Moomin ethos, underpinning not just the brand, but also strategic partnerships, engagement with technologies and the virtual world.

Offering rare insights from the Moomin inner circle, this management guide advocates sustainable practices. It unveils the keys to a business devoted to comforting people and fostering good, inspiring a blueprint for lasting success.

This book offers a unique perspective on Sweden’s COVID-19 response in its publicly funded welfare sector, which was initially highly criticised but later recognised as exemplary on the global stage in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Using diaries, stories and interviews from 73 workers across 30 professions, it reveals the everyday experiences of those maintaining welfare services, both on the front lines and behind the scenes. Covering 2020 to 2022, it spans major cities and smaller municipalities across Gothenburg, Uppsala and Stockholm and introduces 'pandemicracy,' a concept exploring pandemic-era governance and organisation of the public sector.

This insightful analysis sparks a wider discussion on adapting to unforeseen challenges in public welfare.

Generation Z has grown up with a global financial crisis, a pandemic, the climate emergency, growing autocracy and wars. Survival, not just equity, is at stake.

As debate rages about how to ensure a fairer and sustainable society, this book challenges short-sighted economic policies, asking where we want to be in 20 years’ time and how we might get there.

Offering fresh, and sometimes counterintuitive, thinking on a range of economic issues including monetary policy, housing and university funding, it argues in favour of policy guardrails to protect the future, higher interest rates, and a burst of inflation. Robots and AI should be seen as positive replacements for population growth.

This is an original, readable and entertaining take on how we can change course before it is too late.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

The gender pay gap is economically irrational and yet stubbornly persistent.

Focusing on the UK finance industry which is known for its gender pay disparity, this book explores the initiatives to fix gendered inequities in the workplace. Rachel Verdin crafts a unique framework, weaving extensive organizational data with women's lived experiences. Interviews uncover gaps in pay transparency, obstacles hindering workplace policies and the factors that are stalling progress for the future.

This is an invaluable resource that offers key insights into gender equality and EDI measures shaped by legal regulations as well as corporate-driven initiatives.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is recurrently depicted as an enterprise that unites humanity in a common pursuit of a more just and sustainable world. But how is this enterprise pursued on a planet that is enormously unequal? Drawing on biopolitical theory and rich empirical data from different contexts around the world, this book explores how ESD is unpacked depending on whether people are rich or poor.

The book demonstrates how ESD is adapted to the lifestyles and living conditions of different populations. The implication of this depoliticized sensitivity to local ‘realities’, the book argues, is that inequality becomes accommodated and that different responsibilities are assigned to rich and poor. Ultimately, the book considers alternatives to this biopolitical divide.

What does it mean to be a feminist? What can feminism say about ourselves, the work we do, and our ways of living together?

This book draws on the work of Fraser, Butler, and Braidotti to examine how societal and organizational processes shape and are shaped by our perception of work, value, and identity. Disrupting the long-established mind–body dualism, the book reveals its impact on our understanding of value, raising critical questions about how different forms of feminism influence work practices and recognition.

With a foreword by Luigi Maria Sicca and an afterword by Melissa Tyler, this is a unique and insightful analysis that sparks critical reflection, offering a foundation for corporeal ethics to drive meaningful change in organizations and society.

The turnover of labour and its significance for workers and employers has usually been considered at the organizational level as individual exit behaviour, and seldom in relation to the cross-border mobility practices of migrant workers within and without the workplace.

Drawing from labour process theory, the autonomy of migration, social reproduction, and industrial relations, this book explores the relationship between labour mobility and international migration under a global and historical perspective.

Uncovering both the individual and collective actions by migrants inside and outside worker organizations, the authors develop a new understanding of migrants’ everyday mobilities as creative and life-sustaining strategies of social reproduction and labour conflict.

Consumerism, unsustainable growth, waste and inequalities continue to ail societies across the globe, but creative collectives have been tackling these issues at a grassroots level.

Based on an autoethnographic study about a free food store in Aotearoa New Zealand, this book presents a first-hand account of how a community is organized around surplus food to deal with food poverty, while also helping the reader to see through the complexity that brings the free food store to life.

Examining how alternative economies and relations emerge from these community solutions, the author shows it is possible to think, act and organize differently within and beyond capitalist dynamics.

How can diversity be practiced without reinforcing the very inequalities it aims to dismantle?

In this book, Maddy Janssens and Chris Steyaert address this pressing question by critically examining the assumptions behind current diversity initiatives and turning to critical practice theory and queer theory for novel insights. Through imaginative concepts, inspiring illustrations, and an integrative case study within the dance world, the authors articulate the ‘conditions of possibility’ for a fresh, impactful alternative. This book advocates for a shift from individual efforts to collective practices, proposing a politics of organizational worldmaking oriented at multiplicity – a practicing of diversity that aspires to transformative change into livable and just work lives.

This book examines ‘land-grabbing’ - its colonial roots and the fraught relationship between capital and nature amidst the current global socio-ecological crisis.

Through ethnographic and archival research, Maura Benegiamo investigates an Italian company’s acquisition of 20,000 hectares in Senegal’s River Delta for agrofuel production and delves into the struggles of pastoral communities affected by the project. Through this landmark case, the book shows how European energy and global food security policies are reshaping rural spaces, expanding agrarian extractivism in sub-Saharan Africa.

By shedding light on how contemporary capital–nature relationships perpetuate socio-ecological crises and colonial models, the book highlights the enduring forms of opposition to these processes. At the heart of these struggles lies a crucial question: how can we understand today’s crises while reclaiming alternative ways of living, producing and inhabiting the land?

For many younger and lower-income people, housing affordability continues to worsen.

Based on the academic research of two distinguished housing economists – and stimulated by working with governments across the world - this wide-ranging book sets out clear theoretical and empirical frameworks to tackle one of today’s most important socio-economic issues.

Housing unaffordability arises from complex forces and a prerequisite to effective policy is understanding the causes of rising house prices and rents and the interactions between housing, housing finance and the macroeconomy. The authors challenge many of the conventional wisdoms in housing policy and offer innovative recommendations to improve affordability.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Following on from The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand and A Realist Philosophy of Economics, this new book drawn from Karl Mittermaier’s writings examines the intricate relationship between economic theory and real-world economic experiences.

Despite the centrality of subjectivism in both philosophy and economics, these fields have often overlooked each other's insights. Mittermaier challenges this disconnect, advocating for a shift from deterministic models to a more reflective approach in economics. He examines the historical, methodological and philosophical dimensions of economic theory, highlighting its struggle to connect economic theory to empirical data and individuals' lived experiences.

Originally penned between 1979 and 1982 and now published posthumously, this work remains a crucial contribution to contemporary economic discussions.

In a world shaken by crises, why does the dollar continue to dominate? In this book, Photis Lysandrou explores the interaction between global instability and the enduring strength of the dollar. Drawing on examples from the 2008 Great Financial Crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the author reveals how uncertainty and instability in global trade, production and politics drives investors towards the safety of the dollar, reinforcing its dominance over other currencies.

With clear and insightful analysis, Lysandrou reveals the true global financial foundations of dollar dominance, and lays out what it would take for other currencies such as the Euro to challenge its position.

How can entrepreneurs become mentally, emotionally and practically prepared for a crisis? What strategies might help them endure and surface from a crisis?

Drawing on research and insights from 20 years spent studying entrepreneurs, Rachel Doern explores the experiences of entrepreneurs facing crises and presents practical strategies for building resilience in a turbulent world. Offering real-life examples and hands-on exercises, this book provides actionable steps to both strengthen resilience and avoid compromising it by adjusting our thinking, where we put our attention, our physical environment and resources.

Essential reading for entrepreneurs, students and academics, business stakeholders, coaches and mentors, this book provides a fresh perspective on navigating crises. Through personal stories of resilience, it offers inspiration and guidance for the resilience work we can all do.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

A new trend in ethical finance, impact investing aims to generate positive social or environmental impacts alongside financial returns. But what does it really mean and how is it practiced across different regions and organizations?

This volume explores the malleability of impact investing and how it overlaps with the development sphere to give finance a new role. From global networks to the Global South, it compares diverse investing practices and discourses.

Providing an original perspective on this emerging field, this is a key resource for the scholars of social studies of finance, economic sociology, management and organization studies.

What’s it like to work in the male-dominated world of electronic music? How do women and gender-expansive music producers and DJs thrive despite clubland’s so-called ‘bro culture’? This book combines the author’s personal journey into DJing and music production with insights from a six year immersive research project and interviews with 63 global artists to explore the challenges women and gender-expansive artists face in the industry.

The book tackles common myths around gender, technology and cultural production head on, introducing the concept of ‘ameliorative work’ to recognise the continual and considerable additional work that minoritized genders do in order to succeed.

Engaging, accessible and thought-provoking, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in electronic music, the sociology of the contemporary club scene or diversity issues for workers in the creative industries.

Framed around central themes of risk, responsibility and sustainability, this textbook uses a practice-oriented approach to explore how global businesses are navigating disruptive innovations, responding to evolving regulations, adapting to climate change and developing strategies to enhance growth, sustainability and competitiveness.

Key features include:

• Case studies covering businesses of all sizes, from small firms to multinational corporations, across industries and countries;

• Annotated further readings and guidance at the end of each chapter;

• Access to a web-based instructor’s guide and supplementary teaching materials.

Designed to spark debate and encourage discussion, this book equips students with the tools and perspectives needed to navigate the complexities of today’s international business landscape.

Framed around central themes of risk, responsibility and sustainability, this textbook uses a practice-oriented approach to explore how global businesses are navigating disruptive innovations, responding to evolving regulations, adapting to climate change and developing strategies to enhance growth, sustainability and competitiveness.

Key features include:

• Case studies covering businesses of all sizes, from small firms to multinational corporations, across industries and countries;

• Annotated further readings and guidance at the end of each chapter;

• Access to a web-based instructor’s guide and supplementary teaching materials.

Designed to spark debate and encourage discussion, this book equips students with the tools and perspectives needed to navigate the complexities of today’s international business landscape.

Growing up and older at work is something we all experience, yet it remains surprisingly overlooked and under theorized in management and organization studies.

In this groundbreaking book, Kathleen Riach draws on a 10 year longitudinal study to offer fresh theoretical and empirical insights into how ageing is experienced in the workplace.

Introducing a new phenomenological theory of ageing at work, the book examines how individuals negotiate age-biased workplace cultures and adapt to their changing bodies within the context of financial capitalism. It reveals that ageing at work is not simply about demographic change or ageist stereotypes, but is an ongoing process that involves balancing professional expectations, the life course, and the self.

In 2022, Faith In Nature became the first company to appoint Nature to its board of directors, giving the natural world a voice and a vote in every decision and redefining the meaning of corporate responsibility. Nature’s Boardroom offers a behind-the-scenes look at this groundbreaking initiative, outlining how businesses can embed ‘Nature governance’ into their organisations.

Simeon Rose, Brand Director at Faith In Nature and co-creator of Nature on the Board, shares the story of how this bold idea took shape, the challenges and insights gained, and why more companies should follow suit.

Offering simple, practical tools for businesses, sustainability professionals and entrepreneurs, this book is a call to action for rethinking the relationship between business and the natural world.

Growing up and older at work is something we all experience, yet it remains surprisingly overlooked and under theorized in management and organization studies.

In this groundbreaking book, Kathleen Riach draws on a 10 year longitudinal study to offer fresh theoretical and empirical insights into how ageing is experienced in the workplace.

Introducing a new phenomenological theory of ageing at work, the book examines how individuals negotiate age-biased workplace cultures and adapt to their changing bodies within the context of financial capitalism. It reveals that ageing at work is not simply about demographic change or ageist stereotypes, but is an ongoing process that involves balancing professional expectations, the life course, and the self.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Post growth and degrowth scholars argue that we cannot reduce CO2 emissions fast enough to keep global warming below 2 degrees while continuing economic growth. We face a choice: either we innovate how to scale down production and consumption equitably, or we risk severe environmental and social consequences.

Yet the role of innovation remains largely unexplored within contemporary post growth debates. This book fills that gap, examining the narratives, processes and practices needed to break free from the growth imperative.

It offers a bridge for understanding the far-reaching implications of technological and scientific advancements in a society that challenges economic growth as its central focus.

How does collective action shape economic landscapes? This book examines the transformation of the workers' movement in Spain’s metal sector, one of the country’s most unionised industries. Having faced restructuring, delocalization, subcontracting and increasing precarity, metalworkers in Cádiz have used radical methods to challenge measures that threaten their income and industry.

Adopting a spatial approach to labour and social movements, Beltrán Roca investigates the spatial strategies employed by unions to navigate these challenges, debating whether to focus on factory-bound action or engage the broader community. In doing so, the book highlights labour militancy as a social process deeply rooted in specific cities and places, and of workers as producers of space through conflict.