1,271 research outputs found
Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung als BeschÀftigungspolitisches Instrument - Wirkungen und Grenzen Neuer Arbeitszeitpolitik
"Konzepte einer 'Neuen Arbeitszeitpolitik' treten mit dem doppelten Anspruch auf, durch eine Individualisierung von Arbeitszeitregelungen arbeitsmarktpolitische Probleme lösen und darĂŒber hinaus zur Humanisierung der Arbeit beitragen zu können. SelektivitĂ€t und Realisierungschancen flexibler Arbeitszeitregelungen wurden bislang hauptsĂ€chlich unter technologischen Gesichtspunkten diskutiert. DemgegenĂŒber verfolgt dieser Beitrag die Absicht, den sozialen und institutionellen VerhĂ€ltnissen Rechnung zu tragen, die im Zuge einer Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung wirksam sind. Zu diesem Zweck wird zunĂ€chst eine qualifikations- und organisationssoziologische Perspektive gewĂ€hlt, die es erlaubt, zu begrĂŒnden, in welchem VerhĂ€ltnis Einsatz und Nutzung von ArbeitskrĂ€ften mit den betrieblichen Organisationserfordernissen stehen. Daran anknĂŒpfend wird gezeigt, wie sich die betriebliche Nutzung von ArbeitskrĂ€ften auf die Arbeitszeitstruktur auswirkt. Es lassen sich zwei Typen herauskristallisieren, die in einem EntsprechungsverhĂ€ltnis zur betrieblichen Hierarchie stehen: Im unteren Statusbereich dominieren starre Zeitnormierungen, die einen kontorllierenden Zugriff auf die ArbeitsvorgĂ€nge ermöglichen. Vornehmlich im oberen Bereich der Betriebshierarchie sind flexible, selbstbestimmte Muster der Zeitverwendung verbreitet, die mit der LoyalitĂ€t und Identifikation der hier BeschĂ€ftigten mit dem Organisationsziel korrespondieren. Wir interpretieren diesen Befund als betrieblich-organisatorische Formen der Lösung arbeitswirtschaftlicher Probleme, nĂ€mlich als Strategien der Externalisierung des Nutzungsrisikos von Arbeitsvermögen im unteren Statusbereich und dessen Internalisierung im oberen Bereich. Im darauffolgenden Schritt diskutieren wir einige Varianten der Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung auf ihre Ausformung hin, die sie aufgrund dieser arbeitswirtschaftlicher Strategien erfahren. Ergebnis dieser Diskussion ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer stark selektiven Wirkung der Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung. Diesen kontraintentionalen Effekt erwarten wir primĂ€r aufgrund der Zuordnung vornehmlich chronologisch flexibler Arbeitszeitvarianten zu höheren Statuspositionen und chronometrische Varianten zum Bereich restriktiver, konjunkturempfindlicher ArbeitsplĂ€tze. Daraus folgt ferner eine in der zeitlichen Dimension stĂ€rker als bisher wirksame Zuordnung bestimmter ArbeitskrĂ€ftegruppen zu den betriebsinternen bzw. zu den ĂŒberbetrieblichen ArbeitsmĂ€rkten. DarĂŒber hinaus erwarten wir primĂ€r in den unteren Statusgruppen neben einem Schutzverlust eine Verdichtung der Arbeit. Diese negativen Folgelasten lassen sich um so schwieriger abbauen, als mit der Verbreitung der Arbeitszeitflexibilisierung auch die Individualisierung von Arbeitszeitvereinbarungen verbunden ist. Die Verlagerung von Arbeitszeitregelungen von der tariflichen auf die betriebliche Ebene macht eine staatliche und/oder gewerkschaftliche Schutzpolitik unter den gegebenen institutionellen Voraussetzungen der Interessenvertretung abhĂ€ngig BeschĂ€ftigter nahezu unmöglich. Sollen die VorzĂŒge von flexiblen Arbeitszeitregelungen daher nicht vollstĂ€ndig preisgegeben werden, bedarf es neuer Formen der staatlichen, tariflichen und innerbetrieblichen Konfliktregelung in diesem Betrieb."Arbeitszeitpolitik, ArbeitszeitflexibilitĂ€t, BeschĂ€ftigung, Betrieb - Organisation
What unites Europe and what divides it? Solidarity and the European heritage reconsidered
Despite the on-set on new divisions, there is a strong case to be made for the view that ultimately Europe is more united than divided. There is still significant continuity with the post-war project of reconstruction and peace and that this common ground that constitutes the European heritage needs to be given greater recognition. One of the defining features of European self-understanding is opposition to war
House price Keynesianism and the contradictions of the modern investor subject
This article conceptualises the marked downturn in UK house prices in the 2007-2009 period in relation to longer-term processes of national economic restructuring centred on a new model of homeownership. The structure of UK house prices has been impacted markedly by the Labour Governmentâs efforts to ingrain a particular notion of financial literacy amid the move towards an increasingly asset-based system of welfare. New model welfare recipients and new model homeowners have thereby been co-constituted in a manner consistent with a new UK growth regime of âhouse price Keynesianismâ. However, the investor subjects who drive such growth are necessarily rendered uncertain as compared with the idealised image of Government policy because of their reliance on the credit-creating decisions of private financial institutions. The recent steep decline in UK house prices is explained here as an epiphenomenon of the disruptive effect on the idealised image caused by the dependence of investor subjects on pricing dynamics not of their making
Trade union strategies in the age of austerity: the Romanian public sector in comparative perspective
This article examines the impact of the economic crisis and its aftermath on collective bargaining, by comparing reactions to austerity policies of trade unions in healthcare and education in Romania. We develop an encompassing theoretical framework that links strategies used by trade unions with power resources, costs and union democracy. In a tight labour market generated by the massive emigration of doctors, unions in healthcare have successfully deployed their resources to advance their interests and obtain significant wage increases and better working conditions. We also show that in the aftermath of the crisis, healthcare trade unions have redefined their strategies and adopted a more militant stance based on a combination of local strikes, strike threats and temporary alliances with various stakeholders. By comparison, we find that unions in the education sector have adopted less effective strategies built around negotiations with governments combined with national-level militancy
Kinstate intervention in ethnic conflicts : Albania and Turkey compared
Albania and Turkey did not act in overtly irredentist ways towards their ethnic brethren in neighboring states after the end of communism. Why, nonetheless, did Albania facilitate the increase of ethnic conflict in Kosovo and Macedonia, while Turkey did not, with respect to the Turks of Bulgaria? I argue that kin-states undergoing transition are more prone to intervene in external conflicts than states that are not, regardless of the salience of minority demands in the host-state. The transition weakens the institutions of the kin-state. Experiencing limited institutional constraints, self-seeking state officials create alliances with secessionist and autonomist movements across borders alongside their own ideological, clan-based and particularistic interests. Such alliances are often utilized to advance radical domestic agendas. Unlike in Albania's transition environment, in Turkey there were no emerging elites that could potentially form alliances and use external movements to legitimize their own domestic existence or claims
Regulating Clothing Outwork: A Sceptic's View
By applying the strategies of international anti-sweatshop campaigns to the Australian context, recent regulations governing home-based clothing production hold retailers
responsible for policing the wages and employment conditions of clothing outworkers who manufacture clothing on their behalf. This paper argues that the new approach
oversimplifies the regulatory challenge by assuming (1) that Australian clothing production is organised in a hierarchical âbuyer-ledâ linear structure in which core
retail firms have the capacity to control their suppliersâ behaviour; (2) that firms act as unitary moral agents; and (3) that interventions imported from other times and places
are applicable to the contemporary Australian context. After considering some alternative regulatory approaches, the paper concludes that the new regulatory strategy effectively privatises responsibility for labour market conditions â a development that cries out for further debate
Together forever? Explaining exclusivity in party-firm relations
Parties and firms are the key actors of representative democracy and capitalism respectively and the dynamic of attachment between them is a central feature of any political economy. This is the first article to systematically analyse the exclusivity of party-firm relations. We consider exclusivity at a point in time and exclusivity over time. Does a firm have a relationship with only one party at a given point in time, or is it close to more than one party? Does a firm maintain a relationship with only one party over time, or does it switch between parties? Most important, how do patterns of exclusivity impact on a firmâs ability to lobby successfully? We propose a general theory, which explains patterns of party-firm relations by reference to the division of institutions and the type of party competition in a political system. A preliminary test of our theory with Polish survey data confirms our predictions, establishing a promising hypothesis for future research
Union effectiveness: In Search of the Holy Grail
YesThis article revisits the concept of union effectiveness and proposes a conceptual model to inform its study and application. Previous conceptual and empirical work is examined to identify key strengths and weaknesses, and to relate the union effectiveness concept to union renewal and other key concepts. This leads to the proposal of a Goal-System framework that builds and improves on prior research
Psychopolitics: Peter Sedgwickâs legacy for mental health movements
This paper re-considers the relevance of Peter Sedgwick's Psychopolitics (1982) for a politics of mental health. Psychopolitics offered an indictment of âanti-psychiatryâ the failure of which, Sedgwick argued, lay in its deconstruction of the category of âmental illnessâ, a gesture that resulted in a politics of nihilism. âThe radical who is only a radical nihilistâ, Sedgwick observed, âis for all practical purposes the most adamant of conservativesâ. Sedgwick argued, rather, that the concept of âmental illnessâ could be a truly critical concept if it was deployed âto make demands upon the health service facilities of the society in which we liveâ. The paper contextualizes Psychopolitics within the âcrisis tendenciesâ of its time, surveying the shifting welfare landscape of the subsequent 25 years alongside Sedgwick's continuing relevance. It considers the dilemma that the discourse of âmental illnessâ â Sedgwick's critical concept â has fallen out of favour with radical mental health movements yet remains paradigmatic within psychiatry itself. Finally, the paper endorses a contemporary perspective that, while necessarily updating Psychopolitics, remains nonetheless âSedgwickianâ
Networked but Commodified: The (Dis)Embeddedness of Digital Labour in the Gig Economy
This article investigates the (dis)embeddedness of digital labour within the remote gig economy. We use interview and survey data to highlight how platform workers in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are normatively disembedded from social protections through a process of commodification. Normative disembeddedness leaves workers exposed to the vagaries of the external labour market due to an absence of labour regulations and rights. It also endangers social reproduction by limiting access to healthcare and requiring workers to engage in significant unpaid âwork-for-labourâ. However, we show that these workers are also simultaneously embedded within interpersonal networks of trust, which enable the work to be completed despite the low-trust nature of the gig economy. In bringing together the concepts of normative and network embeddedness, we reconnect the two sides of Polanyiâs thinking and demonstrate the value of an integrated understanding of Polanyiâs approach to embeddedness for understanding contemporary economic transformations
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