Work, Self and Society: After Industrialism - Hardcover

"Casey does a good job of reviewing the dramatic changes that have occurred in the workplace and their effect on management practices and workers' identities, as well as on the sources for social cohesion. This book demonstrates excellence in integrating social structure and individual biography. Its in-depth ethnography of how workers and managers deal with rapid changes in technology and work organization is valuable for posing questions and examining corporate culture. Casey is particularily thorough in her exploration of the production of self within a corporate environment and the coping strategies of workers whose past practices and traditions have been systematically undermined.." -"Choice "How are work, self, and society connected in a postindustrial era? Casey tackles these issues and others in a case study of a high-tech US multinational corporation.... this study treats some very important questions.." -"Choice

Despite recent interest in the effects of restructuring and redesigning the work place, the link between individual identity and structural change has usually been asserted rather than demonstrated. Through an extensive review of data from field work in a multi-national corporation Catherine Casey changes this. She knows that changes currently occurring in the world of work are part of the vast social and cultural changes that are challenging the assumptions of modern industrialism. These events affect what people do everyday, and they are altering relations among ourselves and with the physical world. This valuable book is not only a critcal analysis of the transformations occurring in the world of work, but an exploration of the effects of contemporary practices of work on the self.