Neethi P.
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199463626
- eISBN:
- 9780199086863
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199463626.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter begins with a discussion and vast review of the broad conceptual themes—these include an engagement with ‘globalization and labour’ as the major thematic pillar, with a special focus on ...
More
This chapter begins with a discussion and vast review of the broad conceptual themes—these include an engagement with ‘globalization and labour’ as the major thematic pillar, with a special focus on globalization, gender, and work. The chapter then moves to the issues of workers’ agency in a capitalist landscape, presenting an alternative way of examining work and employment practices, addressing the issue of the spatiality of work and bringing geography into focus. Providing a fresh understanding to this interface by means of building geographical awareness and insights into the world of work, this chapter outlines the necessary theoretical tools in geography that assist in studying work, employment, and society. Whilst maintaining the discussion on labour geography as the core of this chapter, it also visits a few alternative frameworks eschewed in favour of this approach.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion and vast review of the broad conceptual themes—these include an engagement with ‘globalization and labour’ as the major thematic pillar, with a special focus on globalization, gender, and work. The chapter then moves to the issues of workers’ agency in a capitalist landscape, presenting an alternative way of examining work and employment practices, addressing the issue of the spatiality of work and bringing geography into focus. Providing a fresh understanding to this interface by means of building geographical awareness and insights into the world of work, this chapter outlines the necessary theoretical tools in geography that assist in studying work, employment, and society. Whilst maintaining the discussion on labour geography as the core of this chapter, it also visits a few alternative frameworks eschewed in favour of this approach.
Neethi P.
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199463626
- eISBN:
- 9780199086863
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199463626.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This book concerns the broad theme of globalization and labour, particularly female labour, and applies the ‘labour geography’ approach to examine contemporary forms of labour control, conflict, and ...
More
This book concerns the broad theme of globalization and labour, particularly female labour, and applies the ‘labour geography’ approach to examine contemporary forms of labour control, conflict, and response under a globalization regime in Kerala state in India, through four diverse in-depth empirical case studies set in this state. This book concentrates on the transforming nature of work under capitalism, and has three interrelated aims: (a) to identify the myriad forms of globalization, as against casting it as a monolith; (b) to perceive workers as active social agents rather than as passive subjects; and (c) to reflect on local discourses of globalization and related issues. Kerala has been chosen as the setting because the state’s labour scenario has dramatically changed, especially in the second half of the twentieth century. While constructing a collage of certain contemporary trends in Kerala’s labour market, this book moves away from the approaches prescribed by economic orthodoxy and borrows from sociological, anthropological, and partly from ethnographic approaches. A geographic perspective allows us to appreciate local variability and uneven development in the labour market, and to chart the complex landscape in which contemporary workers live, work, and struggle. The four distinct, theoretically-driven case studies also help in bringing out the role played by various seemingly unlikely actors in the labour market. Questioning global stereotypes, the book argues that labour becomes actively involved in the very process of globalization and the expansion of capital.Less
This book concerns the broad theme of globalization and labour, particularly female labour, and applies the ‘labour geography’ approach to examine contemporary forms of labour control, conflict, and response under a globalization regime in Kerala state in India, through four diverse in-depth empirical case studies set in this state. This book concentrates on the transforming nature of work under capitalism, and has three interrelated aims: (a) to identify the myriad forms of globalization, as against casting it as a monolith; (b) to perceive workers as active social agents rather than as passive subjects; and (c) to reflect on local discourses of globalization and related issues. Kerala has been chosen as the setting because the state’s labour scenario has dramatically changed, especially in the second half of the twentieth century. While constructing a collage of certain contemporary trends in Kerala’s labour market, this book moves away from the approaches prescribed by economic orthodoxy and borrows from sociological, anthropological, and partly from ethnographic approaches. A geographic perspective allows us to appreciate local variability and uneven development in the labour market, and to chart the complex landscape in which contemporary workers live, work, and struggle. The four distinct, theoretically-driven case studies also help in bringing out the role played by various seemingly unlikely actors in the labour market. Questioning global stereotypes, the book argues that labour becomes actively involved in the very process of globalization and the expansion of capital.
