Collective narratives and politics in the contemporary study of work : the new management practices debate

In this article we explore the question of how as sociologists of work we might research those who constitute the substance of our labour process. We approach this question through an examination of the New Management Practices debate, principally in the labour movement where a distinctive and critical view of NMP developed in the late 1980s. Second, we argue that there is a link between this debate and the wider politics of labour process discussion both within and beyond the labour movement which has witnessed a shift away from an earlier engagement with worker interventions. In response we suggest the need to re-evaluate the nature of academic engagement with labour thus reanimating a closer engagement with labour-in-work and collective worker narratives

Probing SUSY effects in KS0→μ+μ−K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-

We explore supersymmetric contributions to the decay $K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$, in light of current experimental data. The Standard Model (SM) predicts $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)\approx5\times 10^{-12}$. We find that contributions arising from flavour violating Higgs penguins can enhance the branching fraction up to $\approx 35\times 10^{-12}$ within different scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), as well as suppress it down to $\approx 0.78\times 10^{-12}$. Regions with fine-tuned parameters can bring the branching fraction up to the current experimental upper bound, $8\times 10^{-10}$. The mass degeneracy of the heavy Higgs bosons in MSSM induces correlations between $\mathcal{B}(K_S^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$ and $\mathcal{B}(K_L^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-)$. Predictions for the $CP$ asymmetry in $K^0\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$ decays in the context of MSSM are also given, and can be up to eight times bigger than in the SM.Comment: 36 pages, 31 fig

Beyond Work Intensification: the contradictions and ironies of the changing nature of ‘unskilled’ work in a context of austerity and organisational change

This paper argues, through a study of cleaning workers, a need to reconsider the changing nature of unskilled work. In particular, how it has, ironically, become more complex and challenging in some cases due to economic and political developments. For example, in relation to questions of dirty work, stigma and issues of dignity, aspects of this literature recognises the difficulty of the work and its ‘distribution’. However, we argue a need to draw further attention to the ‘mechanics’, processes and complexities of this work and the way it is subject to significant contextual changes (e.g. the role of austerity) that create new complexities and challenges just as that work is being undermined and intensified. We use the voices of cleaning workers to reflect, in a rich detailed manner, the changes to their working environment and focus on the broader social perceptions of the work – from the public, employers and the workers themselves. Our analysis demonstrates a clear recognition of the complexity of that work through four dimensions - the changing spatial isolation of work; the growing context of violence due to the changing operational features of the job; the ongoing impact of state led austerity policies and limited resources, and the ongoing role of social stigma. We end the paper discussing how workers’ control emerges as an important issue in a curious manner within this changing context

Scalar sigma meson effects in rho and omega decays into pi0 pi0 gamma

The complementarity between Chiral Perturbation Theory and the Linear Sigma Model in the scalar channel is exploited to study $\pi^0\pi^0$ production in $\rho$ and $\omega$ radiative decays, where the effects of a low mass scalar resonance $\sigma(500)$ should manifest. The recently reported data on $\rho\to\pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ seem to require the contribution of a low mass and moderately narrow $\sigma(500)$. The properties of this controversial state could be fixed by improving the accuracy of these measurements. Data on $\omega\to\pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ can also be accommodated in our framework, but are much less sensitive to the $\sigma(500)$ properties.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure