Documents Taylor, Rebecca F. 2 results

"Traditional social theory has conceptualized work in terms of a dichotomy of public paid employment and private unpaid labour that oversimplifies the complexity of traditional and contemporary work practices and excludes voluntary work from sociological understandings of work. This article explores the lives of five workers from two voluntary sector organizations, whose experiences highlight the weaknesses of concepts such as ‘career' and suggest that work's conceptual boundaries be extended. A framework based on the ‘total social organization of labour' is developed that distinguishes between paid and unpaid work within the setting of institutional, community and family relations. This provides a basis for mapping individuals' labour and exploring both the interconnections between their work positions and the boundaries of their work identity. At the structural level it highlights how health care and community work constitute labour markets or ‘fields'; hierarchical structures governed by rules that shape how positions are accessed."

"Millions of freelancers work on digital platforms in the online labour market (OLM). The OLM's capacity to both undermine and reproduce labour inequalities is a theme in contemporary platform economy debates. What is less well understood is how processes of social (re)production take place in practice for diverse freelancers on global platforms. Drawing on a study of freelance designers, we use Bourdieu's notions of capital and field to explore the specific ‘rules of the game' and the symbolic valuing of skills and identities that secure legitimacy and advantage in the OLM. We contribute to contemporary debates by illuminating the power of Global North actors to shape freelancer positions and hierarchies in the online design field. The ‘cost advantages' of Global South workers are counterbalanced by the symbolic legitimising of specific cultural and social practices (specifically in relation to language) and the devaluing of others."