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NYU Series in Social and Cultural Analysis
Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
A survey into an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven global development
Is job insecurity the new norm? With fewer and fewer people working in steady, long-term positions for one employer, has the dream of a secure job with full benefits and a decent salary become just that--a dream?
In Nice Work If You Can Get It, Andrew Ross surveys the new topography of the global workplace and finds an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven development on a massive scale. Combining detailed case studies with lucid analysis and graphic prose, he looks at what the new landscape of contingent employment means for workers across national, class, and racial lines--from the emerging "creative class" of high-wage professionals to the multitudes of temporary, migrant, or low-wage workers. Developing the idea of "precarious livelihoods" to describe this new world of work and life, Ross explores what it means in developed nations--comparing the creative industry policies of the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, as well as developing countries--by examining the quickfire transformation of China's labor market. He also responds to the challenge of sustainability, assessing the promise of "green jobs" through restorative alliances between labor advocates and environmentalists.
Ross argues that regardless of one's views on labor rights, globalization, and quality of life, this new precarious and "indefinite life,&" and the pitfalls and opportunities that accompany it is likely here to stay and must be addressed in a systematic way. A more equitable kind of knowledge society emerges in these pages--less skewed toward flexploitation and the speculative beneficiaries of intellectual property, and more in tune with ideals and practices that are fair, just, and renewable.
A survey into an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven global development
Is job insecurity the new norm? With fewer and fewer people working in steady, long-term positions for one employer, has the dream of a secure job with full benefits and a decent salary become just that--a dream?
In Nice Work If You Can Get It, Andrew Ross surveys the new topography of the global workplace and finds an emerging pattern of labor instability and uneven development on a massive scale. Combining detailed case studies with lucid analysis and graphic prose, he looks at what the new landscape of contingent employment means for workers across national, class, and racial lines--from the emerging "creative class" of high-wage professionals to the multitudes of temporary, migrant, or low-wage workers. Developing the idea of "precarious livelihoods" to describe this new world of work and life, Ross explores what it means in developed nations--comparing the creative industry policies of the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, as well as developing countries--by examining the quickfire transformation of China's labor market. He also responds to the challenge of sustainability, assessing the promise of "green jobs" through restorative alliances between labor advocates and environmentalists.
Ross argues that regardless of one's views on labor rights, globalization, and quality of life, this new precarious and "indefinite life,&" and the pitfalls and opportunities that accompany it is likely here to stay and must be addressed in a systematic way. A more equitable kind of knowledge society emerges in these pages--less skewed toward flexploitation and the speculative beneficiaries of intellectual property, and more in tune with ideals and practices that are fair, just, and renewable.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2009
3 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Ross
175 books50 followersAndrew Ross is Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, and a social activist. A contributor to The Nation, the Village Voice, New York Times, and Artforum, he is the author of many books, including, most recently, Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City and Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 24, 2011
I could just say that this is fabulous and leave it at that, but it wouldn't get us far. In this analysis of the experiences of working in capitalism's new industrial order, notably the cultural industries, Ross continues a line of exploration he has been developing for about 12 years now (starting with No Sweat, about the garment industry, in 1997 and Real Love, about ideas of cultural justice, in 1998). I started reading this book because of the chapter exploring the London and New York 2012 Olympic bids – it is impossible to teach sports studies in the UK at the moment and not deal with the Olympics. There is a real absence of critical material, however, so I was hoping (correctly) that Ross would give me some, and he did in a fabulous exploration of the Olympic Games as a means to concentrate capital amid claims of redistribution, development, and legacy.
As good as this chapter is, I found myself more taken by the discussion of the need to build meaningful political coalitions around 'ethical' production (not that I think that is possible under capitalism – but we must all make compromises), rather than the current coalition building around ethical consumption. More unsettling, given that I work in higher education, are the discussions of intellectual property and copyright, and about trends in higher education marketing.
Where the book is particularly useful is that Ross continually reminds us of class hierarchies and differences in the cultural industries, and exposes some of the ways that the debates are lead and shaped by the elites in those industries (people like me with permanent academic contracts) rather than those precariously employed in those industries – the precariat, as he calls them. All in all, outstanding, and the kind of thing cultural studies should be doing much more of.
As good as this chapter is, I found myself more taken by the discussion of the need to build meaningful political coalitions around 'ethical' production (not that I think that is possible under capitalism – but we must all make compromises), rather than the current coalition building around ethical consumption. More unsettling, given that I work in higher education, are the discussions of intellectual property and copyright, and about trends in higher education marketing.
Where the book is particularly useful is that Ross continually reminds us of class hierarchies and differences in the cultural industries, and exposes some of the ways that the debates are lead and shaped by the elites in those industries (people like me with permanent academic contracts) rather than those precariously employed in those industries – the precariat, as he calls them. All in all, outstanding, and the kind of thing cultural studies should be doing much more of.
September 30, 2019
My brother got this for me a long time ago. It was really interesting to read a book like this now that is about 10 years old and the flexible work thing has exploded. It was pretty dry but I enjoyed it and it gave lots of interesting perspectives on justice in this new kind of world.
January 4, 2015
The material itself was intriguing - at least for me; it showed me what economists don't care or don't tal about when they talk about copyrights and international trade expansion. Although sometimes tainted with conspiracy theory, the majority of the time, I believe Ross did a fair job of advocating for a worldview that he values.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews