EXTENDING WORKING LIVES IN THE UK: WHY DON’T WE SEE MORE VARIATION?

In the context of the take-over by a global corporation (Royal Doulton) of a family-owned and run pottery factory in Longton Stoke-on-Trent, known as ‘Beswick’, and the subsequent re-structuring of production, this paper explores the way in which women pottery workers make social distinctions between the ‘rough’ and ‘posh’, ‘proper paintresses’ and ‘big heads’ which cut into and across abstract sociological notions of class. Drawing on ethnographic data I show that for these working class women, class as lived is inherently ambiguous and contradictory and reveal the ways in which class is gendered. I build on historical and sociological studies of the pottery industry, and anthropological and related debates on class, as well as Frankenberg's study of a Welsh village, to develop my argument and draw analogies between factory and village at a number of levels. My findings support the view that class is best understood not as an abstract generalising category, but in the local and specific contexts of women's working lives. I was the first one in our family to go in decorating end and they thought I was a bit stuck-up. My sister was in clay end as a cup-handler and I had used to walk off factory without her, or wait for her to leave before I left, though she said, ‘If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have anything to paint!’ They were much freer in the clay end – had more to do with men – we thought we were one up. 1

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Workplace and Health: A Survey of Classical Orchestral Musicians in the United Kingdom and Germany

Medical Problems of Performing Artists ◽

10.21091/mppa.2002.2012 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 83-92

Author(s):

Beatrice S Harper

Keyword(s):

United Kingdom ◽

Working Conditions ◽

Classical Music ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Work Related ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Working Lives ◽

The Status ◽

The Uk ◽

Orchestral Musicians

This article presents the results of a survey that was carried out among UK and German professional classical musicians between November 2000 and April 2001. The UK Musicians’ Union and the German musicians’ union, the Deutsche Orchester Vereinigung (DOV), assisted greatly with the duplication and distribution of the questionnaires. Selected results have been disseminated to the respondents via the UK Musicians’ Union journal, Musician. A full report will appear in Cultural Trends, to be published in 2002 by the Policy Studies Institute, London. The survey covered many aspects of musicians’ perceptions of occupational health and safety, the provision of appropriate information, their general working conditions, and their health. One of the main aims was to bring to the forefront a discussion of musicians’ working conditions and to raise awareness of the range of problems that exist. Key findings identify areas of concern to the respondents, in particular, regarding the environmental conditions of their workplaces. Additionally, findings indicate the use and effectiveness of the measures used by musicians to ameliorate a range of occupational hazards. This article also reports the respondents’ hearing problems, and which medical and alternative practitioners the sample consulted in cases of work-related ill health. The contrasting structure of the profession determined the choice of the United Kingdom and Germany for this study. The UK classical music workforce is predominantly freelance, whereas in Germany there are relatively few freelance musicians, and most orchestral musicians have the status of local government employees. One of the aims of the survey was to elicit information that might indicate whether such different conditions of employment affect the working lives of musicians. This article is organized in two parts. The first part places this survey in context and discusses the particular range of health problems highlighted by the respondents. The second part presents the survey and its findings.

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Introduction

Soldiers as Citizens ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781789620863.003.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Nick Mansfield

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Working Class ◽

British Empire ◽

Industrial Revolution ◽

British Society ◽

Popular Politics ◽

Subsequent Growth ◽

Working Lives ◽

Primary Means ◽

The Uk

In common with its companion volume - Soldiers as Workers – Class, employment, conflict and the nineteenth century military (2016), this study argues that class is the primary means of understanding the topic. Focusing on rank and file soldiers it concludes that they were not a separate caste. Instead, soldiering was often just a phase in civilian working lives. The nineteenth century was overshadowed by the mass mobilisation required for the generation-long French Wars and concurrent Industrial Revolution, with emerging working-class popular politics. The chapter reviews developing working class literacy and subsequent growth of rank and file memoirs, which are an important source for this study. The chapter stresses the importance of the new barrack system in the UK and the growth of British Empire, both of which had profound consequences for British society.

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Prolonged working lives and health: evidence from the UK

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/cky212.901 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (suppl_4) ◽

Author(s):

L Carrino ◽

M Avendano

Keyword(s):

Working Lives ◽

The Uk

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No Margin for Error: Fifteen Years in the Working Lives of Lone Mothers and their Children

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279418000752 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 1-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

JANE MILLAR ◽

TESS RIDGE

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Security Policy ◽

Qualitative Research Study ◽

The Past ◽

Lone Mothers ◽

Working Lives ◽

The Uk ◽

Social Security Policy ◽

Over Time

AbstractOver the past two decades, the emphasis on paid work has become one of the defining features of social security policy in the UK. Lone mothers and their families have been one of the key groups affected. In this article we focus on the working and family lives of lone mothers and their children over time, drawing on material from a long-term qualitative research study, and setting this in the context of policy developments. We explore the long-term consequences of trying to sustain work, and manage low-income family life as children grow up and needs change over time. This highlights some of the tensions and limitations in family support and relationships when resources are limited. We reflect on the links between insecurity, legacies and the state.

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Management Through Metrics

10.1332/policypress/9781529215144.003.0018 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 143-152

Author(s):

Rob Kitchin

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Public Management ◽

New Public Management ◽

Public And Private ◽

Management Regime ◽

Working Lives ◽

New Public ◽

Private Sector Organizations ◽

Public And Private Sector ◽

The Uk

This chapter studies how public and private sector organizations are increasingly using key performance indicators (KPIs) and technocratic procedures to manage work and workers and its consequences. Since the 1980s and the introduction of new public management (NPM) — an approach to running public sector institutions in a more business-like way — various kinds of assessment have been introduced to measure and track performance. Usually, these measures are institutionalized through formalized assessment schemes designed to improve efficiency, productivity, and quality. An entire bureaucracy has developed to oversee this datafication, and the management of institutions has transformed to become more instrumental and technocratic, guided by metrics. Decisions concerning individual promotion, departmental staffing and budgets, and strategic investments are informed by KPIs and rankings. In places like the UK and Australia, management through metrics has become deeply ingrained into the working lives of academics and the management of institutions. While Ireland has managed to avoid the worst excesses of management through metrics, it has not been totally immune. KPIs are now a part of the management regime and are used to guide decision-making, but they are used alongside other forms of information rather than narrowly determining outcomes.

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International Association for the Study of Popular Music (UK Branch) 2000 Conference

Popular Music ◽

10.1017/s0261143001001453 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 263-274

Author(s):

Peter Symon

Keyword(s):

Popular Music ◽

International Association ◽

Popular Music Studies ◽

Working Lives ◽

The Media ◽

Media Politics ◽

State Of Affairs ◽

The Uk ◽

The University

For some reason, the working lives of music makers are not often given the attention in popular music studies which might be expected. The launch of the UK Year of the Artist – celebrating the role of artists in society – immediately before the 2000 conference of the UK branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), meant that it was especially timely, then, for the IASPM event to address this state of affairs. The conference, The Popular Musician: Performance, Poetics, Power, was held at the University of Surrey, 7–9 July 2000, and took as its central theme the position of musicians – in the music industry, in relation to fans and audiences and in the media, politics and society.

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The impact of journal re-grading on perception of ranking systems: Exploring the case of the Academic Journal Guide and Business and Management scholars in the UK

Research Evaluation ◽

10.1093/reseval/rvz010 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 218-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

James T Walker ◽

Ammon Salter ◽

Rita Fontinha ◽

Rossella Salandra

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Academic Research ◽

Academic Journal ◽

Working Lives ◽

Ranking Systems ◽

Large Scale Survey ◽

Using Data ◽

The Uk ◽

The Impact ◽

Business And Management

Abstract The marked increase in the use of metrics, such as journal lists, to assess research has had a profound effect on academics’ working lives. While some view the diffusion of rankings as beneficial, others consider their diffusion as a malicious development, which further acerbates a tendency towards managerialism in academia, and undermine the integrity and diversity of academic research. Using data from a large-scale survey and a re-grading of journals in a ranking used by Business and Management UK scholars—the Academic Journal Guide—as a pseudo-experiment, we examine what determines negative and positive perceptions of rankings. We find that the individuals who published in outlets that were upgraded were less hostile to the ranking than those who did not benefit from these changes, and that individuals were also less hostile to the ranking if outlets in their field had benefited from re-grading in the new list. We also find that the individuals who published in outlets that were upgraded were more positive to the ranking than those who did not benefit from these changes, and that individuals were also more positive to the ranking if outlets in their field had benefited from re-grading in the new list.

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How Microsoft Teams is Evolving

ITNOW ◽

10.1093/itnow/bwab010 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Nick Hedderman

Keyword(s):

Business Group ◽

New Normal ◽

Working Lives ◽

Collaboration Tools ◽

Security Business ◽

The Uk ◽

Modern Work

Abstract When the pandemic caused chaos across our working lives, Microsoft Teams, along with other collaboration tools, helped to keep the UK working. Nick Hedderman, Director, Modern Work & Security Business Group, Microsoft UK, spoke to Johanna Hamilton AMBCS about this new normal.

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Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life: National Country Context: UK

10.3384/9789179291518 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Alden ◽

Liam Foster ◽

Alan Walker

Keyword(s):

Cultural Practices ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Level Shift ◽

The European Union ◽

Cultural Changes ◽

Section 8 ◽

Shared Experiences ◽

Working Lives ◽

Demographic Shifts ◽

The Uk

Extending Working Lives (EWLs hereafter) is an important policy goal across many Western countries. This document traces how policy developments have formed the existing EWLs agenda in the UK context. It explores the interrelationship between demographic shifts, policy reform, changing organisational and cultural practices, and technological drivers across groups with diverse life course trajectories. It needs to be borne in mind that UK development is influenced by wider, global influences and shared experiences, such as the OECD level shift toward later retirement pathways. There are also imminent political and cultural changes taking place in the UK which will have an ongoing influence on EWLs, such as the European Union exit. Section 7 provides an overview of the development and framing of policies relevant to EWL, as well as levels of participation. Section 8 focuses on macro national regime characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics across subgroups of older people. Section 9 goes into greater detail on the main inequalities which have a negative impact on EWLs and Section 12 draws on the key policies that impact on EWLs, with consideration of the main inequalities within this.

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