The Laboring of Communication: Will Knowledge Workers of the World Unite? (Critical Media Studies) - Softcover

In this textured empirical and theoretical examination of the workers in new media and information systems, Mosco and McKercher answer Castells's technology-focused network society with a critical sociological study of the conditions of work and the labor struggles in the making of the new global capitalist informational economy. -- Gerald Sussman, professor, Portland State University While there are many texts describing the knowledge economy and organized labor's decline in North America, I know of no other book that tells the story of how knowledge workers are organizing through convergence in the face of technological change, growing corporate concentration, and neo-liberalism. Nor can I imagine a more compelling set of case studies through which to develop this critical narrative. This book is a welcome addition to scholarship in communication studies, labor studies, and women's studies. -- Leah Vosko, Canada Research Chair, York University ...would be worth reading for labor educators, since they help us understand some of the possible directions for the future labor movement, which will certainly be more focused on creative, knowledge, and professional workers than in the past. The theoretical focus and readability level... as well as the background needed, ensure that [The Laboring Community] cab ibky be ysed selectively in noncredit labor education classes. However, in upper-division labout studies classes, both of these books could find a place on the list. -- Joe Berry * Labor Studies Journal, March, 2010 * As more and more people line up to join the ranks of the creative class, figuring out how to empower and, if possible, protect them becomes a crucial part of our understanding of the global cultural economy. In this groundbreaking book, Mosco and McKercher offer the foundations for such a critical analysis. -- Mark Deuze, author of Media Work and professor, Indiana University and Leiden University

This book addresses the changing nature of work, workers, and their organizations in the media, information, and knowledge industries. It begins with a concise analysis of the meaning of knowledge work and of an information society.