Workers Without Companies

"Workers Without Companies asks how we will work in two decades' time and how workers' lives will transform as ways of working diversify at an unprecedented pace. As new categories of workers emerge, and the global productive landscape undergoes continuous reconfiguration, this book contributes to the debate around the future of work. This approach repositions the subject within broader structural transformations, signalling a sustained diversification of how work is mobilised. Simultaneously, it highlights a transversal shift towards the gradual detachment of workers from their employing organisations. Faced with several decades of mass unemployment in Europe and the activation of self-employment through intermediary platforms, this book examines the transformation of salaried work and the growth of parallel work systems. With particular attention to agriculture, science and knowledge production, the authors explore the emerging trends of increasingly distant relations between companies and their employees, and the growing number of operators involved in maintaining new industrial relations. It considers the conditions that characterise the changing face of work and the challenges that these represent for workers and their representatives. As such, Workers Without Companies will appeal to sociologists with interests in work and industry, employment and unemployment, organisation studies and labour relations"-- Provided by publisher.