The internet-driven marketplace offers unprecedented opportunities, but this technology also drives relentless competition. When consumers can change allegiance with the click of a mouse, sellers must make constant improvements - cutting costs, adding value, requiring more time and work from employees whose job stability, in turn, declines daily. In short, the terrific deals of the new economy carry a steep price: more frenzied lives, less security, more economic and social stratification, the loss of time for family, friendship, community and self.

In The Transformation of The New Economy, editors Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci critically examine existing conditions in the workplace and discuss the political and economic forces that have shaped them. The book explores established practices governing how products are produced, how work is organized, and who comprises the labor force.

InThe Transformation of the New Economy, editors Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci critically examine existing conditions in the workplace and discuss the political and economic forces that have shaped them. The book explores established practices governing how products are produced, how work is organized, and who comprises the labor force. Perrucci and Perrucci examine computerized production technology, global production chains, and the international division of labor as products of political struggles between corporations, workers, and the government. The outcomes of these struggles have produced our global economy, made jobs less secure, and kept wages of average Americans from growing the way they did post-World War II. These outcomes have also led to downsizing in the workplace, restructuring the social organization of work, and outsourcing jobs to other countries. This anthology illustrates how the new economy has affected: * Job opportunities and income for workers of different gender, race, and class. * Working conditions of professionals, factory workers, and workers in the service economy. * Family life of parents, children, and dual earners. The closing section of the book focuses on policy changes that could improve the conditions of workers in the new economy--with specific attention to raising wages, better access to health care, and company policies that empower workers.

In the highly-anticipated second edition of Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy, authors Sweet and Meiskins once again provide a rich analysis of the American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy. Through engaging vignettes and rich data, this text frames the development of jobs and employment opportunities in an international comparative perspective, revealing the historical transformations of work and identifying the profound effects that these changes have had on lives, jobs, and life chances. This text brings into focus the many complexities of class, race, and gender inequalities in the modern-day workplace, as well as details the consequences of job insecurity and work schedules mismatched to family needs. Throughout, strategic recommendations are offered that could help make the new economy work for us all.

This book explores the growing tension between the requirements of employers for a flexible work force and the ability of parents and communities to nurture their children and provide for their health, welfare, and education. Global competition and the spread of information technology are forcing businesses to engage in rapid, worldwide production changes, customized marketing, and just-in-time delivery. They are reorganizing work around decentralized management, work differentiation, and short-term and part-time employment. Increasingly, workers must be able to move across firms and even across types of work, as jobs get redefined. But there is a stiff price being paid for this labor market flexibility. It separates workers from the social institutions--family, long-term jobs, and stable communities--that sustained economic expansions in the past and supported the growth and development of the next generation. This is exacerbated by the continuing movement of women into paid work, which puts a greater strain on the family's ability to care for and rear children. Unless government fosters the development of new, integrative institutions to support the new world of work, the author argues, the conditions required for long-term economic growth and social stability will be threatened. He concludes by laying out a framework for creating such institutions.

A rich analysis of the American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy. The authors frame the development of jobs in an international comparative perspective, revealing the historical transformations of work and the profound effects these changes have had on lives, jobs, and life chances.

In the Third Edition of Changing Contours of Work: Jobs and Opportunities in the New Economy, Stephen Sweet and Peter Meiksins once again provide a rich analysis of the American workplace in the larger context of an integrated global economy. Through engaging vignettes and rich data, this text frames the development of jobs and employment opportunities in an international comparative perspective, revealing the historical transformations of work (the “old economy” and the “new economy”) and identifying the profound effects that these changes have had on lives, jobs, and life chances. The text examines the many complexities of race, class, and gender inequalities in the modern-day workplace, and details the consequences of job insecurity and work schedules mismatched to family needs. Throughout the text, strategic recommendations are offered to improve the new economy.