Working at home: statistical evidence for seven key hypotheses

It is frequently suggested that working at home will be the future of work for many people in the UK and that trends in this direction are already well underway. This paper examines these claims by analysing data from the Labour Force Survey which has, at various times, asked questions about the location of work. Seven key hypotheses are identified, including issues surrounding the extent and growth of working at home, reliance on information and communication technology,prevalence of low pay, average pay rates, gender issues, ethnic minority participation and household composition. The results paint a variegated and complex picture which suggests that those who work at home do not comprise a homogeneous group.The paper in particular highlights differences between non-manual and manual workers, and those who work mainly, partially and sometimes at home

Marxism, racism and the construction of ‘race’ as a social and political relation: an interview with Professor Robert Miles

Robert Miles has made a significant contribution to the field of racism and ethnic studies. In his early work, Miles drew upon structuralist Marxist theorizations of capitalism to offer a historically informed analysis of racism and migrant labour (Miles 1982). This perspective placed political economy at the centre of the study of racism. In addition, Miles' critical discussions with other influential contemporaries such as Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall (Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) 1982) raised crucial issues concerning the construction of ‘race’ as a social and political relation in Britain (Back and Solomos 2000). However, Miles became most renowned for his critique of the ‘race relations’ paradigm and his insistence that sociologists employ the concept of ‘racialization’ rather than ‘race’ (Miles 1982, 1989, 1993). Overall, Miles' work was rich both in its theoretical clarity and historical depth, and his contributions warrant critical analysis today. The following interview was conducted in December 2009

Le Pays de l’homme blanc. Le racisme dans la politique britannique [extraits]: in Florian Gulli (éd.), Anti-racisme. 150 ans de combats. 40 grands textes, Saint-Denis, Éditions de L’Humanité, p. 269-275

Robert Miles et Annie Phizacklea, Le Pays de l’homme blanc. Le racisme dans la politique britannique [extraits], in Florian Gulli (éd.), Anti-racisme. 150 ans de combats. 40 grands textes, Saint-Denis, Éditions de L’Humanité, 2022, p. 269-27

Opportunities to work at home in the context of work-life balance

Discussion of ‘work-life balance’ and ‘family-friendly’ employment is much in vogue among politicians and business leaders. Often, but not always, working at home is included within such practices. However, the concepts of work-life balance and family-friendly are commonly left ill-defined by researchers and policymakers alike. In this article we outline formal definitions of these terms, which place spatial issues - and hence working at home - at the heart of the debate. This leads us on to examine working at home through the theoretical lens offered by attempts to explain the rise of work-life balance arrangements. Twelve hypotheses emerge from the literature and are tested on the management data contained in the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey or WERS98. Many of these hypotheses pass weak statistical tests but fail on stronger logistic regression tests. The article shows that the option to work at home is more likely to be available in the public sector, large establishments and work environments in which individuals are responsible for the quality of their own output. These workplaces are typically less unionised but not especially feminised

The option to work at home: Another privilege for the favoured few?

This paper compares and contrasts the demographic and employment characteristics of those who have the option to work at home with those who actually carry out paid work where they live. The results suggest that having the opportunity to choose where to work represents another perk for those already occupying an advantaged position in the labour market. However, some of the most disadvantaged in society are found among those who actually do most of their work at home