Gail Hebson
Biographic Data
| ID | 265998 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gail Hebson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gail |
| FAMILY NAME | Hebson |
| SIGNATURE | HEBSON G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0943-9848 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 205 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Could do better
Purpose Based on a dialogic discussion of an empirical case study narrative, the paper provides a “better practice” commentary to help hearing researchers include deaf workers as research participants. We argue that more attention should be paid to the concept of research inclusion in all organizational research in order to anticipate and operationalize research methods that allow for a full diversity of research participants to be included. Desi…
From Precarious Work to Precarious Lives
This article investigates the intersection between precarious work and precarious lives through interviews with workers in the care, hospitality and art sectors. These revealed that workers experienced precarity as a double-edged sword of time and income uncertainty shaped by the context in which they were embedded - namely their employment, their household and their relations with state welfare and care systems. These three domains shaped both t…
Reinforced or disrupted ideal worker norms in the pandemic? Analyzing the gendered impact of the pandemic on professional specialisms in a Professional Services Firm in Kuwait
This paper uses a critical case study of a subsidiary of a multinational Professional Services Firm (PSF) in Kuwait to explore whether new organizational routines and ways of working in the pandemic created opportunities for gendered ideal worker norms to be challenged or modified. We revisited research findings from an in‐depth case study conducted in the pre‐Covid context where differentiated patterns of gendered ideal norms across Consulting, …
A case of employers never letting a good crisis go to waste? An investigation of how work becomes even more precarious for hourly paid workers under Covid
The fragility of employers' voluntary, business‐case‐based improvements to employment standards for front‐line hourly paid staff is revealed in two organisational case studies from the art and care sectors. For different reasons, Covid provided a catalyst for employers to enact passive and active exit strategies that made work more precarious
Employment relations and gender equality
This chapter argues that a gender lens has had four key impacts on the subject discipline. First, it has expanded the subject’s scope by going beyond the traditional embedding of workplace employment relations within product market, political and education and training institutions to include the family, welfare and gender relations. Second, a gender lens has extended the traditionally class-based focus on inequality and required the development …
Rethinking job satisfaction in care work
Studies of care workers frequently reveal relatively high levels of job satisfaction despite poor employment conditions. The rewarding nature of care work, altruistic motivations and gendered social norms have all been used to explain why subjective job satisfaction is high despite poor pay and terms and conditions. Using data collected in case-study research with domiciliary and residential care workers, this article offers a new direction for c…
Intersectionality
Intersectional analysis has been developing since its emergence from critical race feminism in the 1980s when it was used to conceptualize the inter-relationship of race and gender and, particularly, the experiences of discrimination and marginalization of black women in employment. While its contribution has been much debated within sociological and gender specific journals, its use still remains relatively limited within studies of work and emp…
Exploring the Limits to Local Authority Social Care Commissioning
Building on international insights into the complexity of public services' procurement and its outcomes, this paper reveals the contradictory influences that generated ambiguous, volatile, and variable commissioning practices in social care commissioning for older adults in a 2008/09 case survey of 14 English local authorities (LAs). Their commissioning practices ranged from cost minimizing to partnership‐focused, with the more cost‐focused pract…
The Gendered Implications of Corporate Value Change
Using case study evidence of a local authority and a building society this article explores the gendered implications of corporate value change programmes and how these are mediated by the types of equality agendas in place at the organizational level. The article explores the gendered impact of new corporate values by identifying how the organizations' changing approach to selection and career development has unintended gendered consequences, af…
Renewing Class Analysis in Studies of the Workplace
A renewed class analysis has shown the importance of culture, emotions and identity in conceptualizing and understanding how class is lived. However, proponents of the new sociology of class rarely explore these issues in an occupational setting. This article argues that the insights developed in the new cultural approaches to class can be used fruitfully to analyse contemporary experiences of work. Using a comparative study of women working in w…
Too emotional to be capable? The changing nature of emotion work in definitions of ‘capable teaching’
This article uses the concept of emotional labour to understand some of the changes that are ongoing in the teaching profession. While research has explored the impact of the new performance culture upon teachers’ work and identified a marginalisation of the caring and emotional aspects of teaching, the concept of emotional labour allows us to extend this argument. Using interviews with teachers who have had their capability questioned, in the ma…
Gender mainstreaming in the enlarged European Union
The European Union (EU) has an explicit commitment to raise the employment rate for women and to advance gender mainstreaming (GM) and gender equality in both employment and social inclusion policies. In this article we assess developments in the latest round of National Action Plans (NAPs), with particular attention to the situations in the 10 new member states. GM continues to be patchy and inadequate, with a similarly narrow focus in both ‘old…
Private sector provision of supply teachers
The increasing role of private sector agencies in the provision of supply teachers across Britain's schools raises three inter-related issues that need to be addressed during the current process of re-assessing the medium and long-term viability of this policy option. First, there is a danger that educational concerns and equity of teaching provision across schools conflict with the private sector concern to maximize agency revenue. Secondly, the…
Performing for the 'Customer
Attempts to introduce a new managerialism into local authorities have taken place consistently and continuously over the last 20 years in an effort to secure lower costs as well as performance improvements. Most of this activity has involved the use of private sector providers. This paper reviews the development of a partnership between the housing department of a London borough and a large, private sector contractor that took over the running of…
PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos
This article explores the extent to which a new contractual approach to delivering public services, through public private partnerships (PPPs), is transforming the traditional values underpinning the public sector ethos among both managers and workers. Drawing on two detailed case studies of PPPs - a Private Finance Initiative in the health sector and the outsourcing of housing benefit claims in the local government sector - we identify a range o…
Breaking the silence
Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available
Intersectionality
Intersectional analysis has been developing since its emergence from critical race feminism in the 1980s when it was used to conceptualize the inter-relationship of race and gender and, particularly, the experiences of discrimination and marginalization of black women in employment. While its contribution has been much debated within sociological and gender specific journals, its use still remains relatively limited within studies of work and emp…
PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos
This article explores the extent to which a new contractual approach to delivering public services, through public private partnerships (PPPs), is transforming the traditional values underpinning the public sector ethos among both managers and workers. Drawing on two detailed case studies of PPPs - a Private Finance Initiative in the health sector and the outsourcing of housing benefit claims in the local government sector - we identify a range o…
Rethinking job satisfaction in care work
Studies of care workers frequently reveal relatively high levels of job satisfaction despite poor employment conditions. The rewarding nature of care work, altruistic motivations and gendered social norms have all been used to explain why subjective job satisfaction is high despite poor pay and terms and conditions. Using data collected in case-study research with domiciliary and residential care workers, this article offers a new direction for c…
Renewing Class Analysis in Studies of the Workplace
A renewed class analysis has shown the importance of culture, emotions and identity in conceptualizing and understanding how class is lived. However, proponents of the new sociology of class rarely explore these issues in an occupational setting. This article argues that the insights developed in the new cultural approaches to class can be used fruitfully to analyse contemporary experiences of work. Using a comparative study of women working in w…
Exploring the Limits to Local Authority Social Care Commissioning
Building on international insights into the complexity of public services' procurement and its outcomes, this paper reveals the contradictory influences that generated ambiguous, volatile, and variable commissioning practices in social care commissioning for older adults in a 2008/09 case survey of 14 English local authorities (LAs). Their commissioning practices ranged from cost minimizing to partnership‐focused, with the more cost‐focused pract…
Too emotional to be capable? The changing nature of emotion work in definitions of ‘capable teaching’
This article uses the concept of emotional labour to understand some of the changes that are ongoing in the teaching profession. While research has explored the impact of the new performance culture upon teachers’ work and identified a marginalisation of the caring and emotional aspects of teaching, the concept of emotional labour allows us to extend this argument. Using interviews with teachers who have had their capability questioned, in the ma…
Reinforced or disrupted ideal worker norms in the pandemic? Analyzing the gendered impact of the pandemic on professional specialisms in a Professional Services Firm in Kuwait
This paper uses a critical case study of a subsidiary of a multinational Professional Services Firm (PSF) in Kuwait to explore whether new organizational routines and ways of working in the pandemic created opportunities for gendered ideal worker norms to be challenged or modified. We revisited research findings from an in‐depth case study conducted in the pre‐Covid context where differentiated patterns of gendered ideal norms across Consulting, …
Performing for the 'Customer
Attempts to introduce a new managerialism into local authorities have taken place consistently and continuously over the last 20 years in an effort to secure lower costs as well as performance improvements. Most of this activity has involved the use of private sector providers. This paper reviews the development of a partnership between the housing department of a London borough and a large, private sector contractor that took over the running of…
Breaking the silence
Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available
Private sector provision of supply teachers
The increasing role of private sector agencies in the provision of supply teachers across Britain's schools raises three inter-related issues that need to be addressed during the current process of re-assessing the medium and long-term viability of this policy option. First, there is a danger that educational concerns and equity of teaching provision across schools conflict with the private sector concern to maximize agency revenue. Secondly, the…
Breaking the silence
Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available
Private sector provision of supply teachers
The increasing role of private sector agencies in the provision of supply teachers across Britain's schools raises three inter-related issues that need to be addressed during the current process of re-assessing the medium and long-term viability of this policy option. First, there is a danger that educational concerns and equity of teaching provision across schools conflict with the private sector concern to maximize agency revenue. Secondly, the…
Performing for the 'Customer
Attempts to introduce a new managerialism into local authorities have taken place consistently and continuously over the last 20 years in an effort to secure lower costs as well as performance improvements. Most of this activity has involved the use of private sector providers. This paper reviews the development of a partnership between the housing department of a London borough and a large, private sector contractor that took over the running of…
PPPs and the Changing Public Sector Ethos
This article explores the extent to which a new contractual approach to delivering public services, through public private partnerships (PPPs), is transforming the traditional values underpinning the public sector ethos among both managers and workers. Drawing on two detailed case studies of PPPs - a Private Finance Initiative in the health sector and the outsourcing of housing benefit claims in the local government sector - we identify a range o…
Gender mainstreaming in the enlarged European Union
The European Union (EU) has an explicit commitment to raise the employment rate for women and to advance gender mainstreaming (GM) and gender equality in both employment and social inclusion policies. In this article we assess developments in the latest round of National Action Plans (NAPs), with particular attention to the situations in the 10 new member states. GM continues to be patchy and inadequate, with a similarly narrow focus in both ‘old…
Too emotional to be capable? The changing nature of emotion work in definitions of ‘capable teaching’
This article uses the concept of emotional labour to understand some of the changes that are ongoing in the teaching profession. While research has explored the impact of the new performance culture upon teachers’ work and identified a marginalisation of the caring and emotional aspects of teaching, the concept of emotional labour allows us to extend this argument. Using interviews with teachers who have had their capability questioned, in the ma…
Renewing Class Analysis in Studies of the Workplace
A renewed class analysis has shown the importance of culture, emotions and identity in conceptualizing and understanding how class is lived. However, proponents of the new sociology of class rarely explore these issues in an occupational setting. This article argues that the insights developed in the new cultural approaches to class can be used fruitfully to analyse contemporary experiences of work. Using a comparative study of women working in w…
The Gendered Implications of Corporate Value Change
Using case study evidence of a local authority and a building society this article explores the gendered implications of corporate value change programmes and how these are mediated by the types of equality agendas in place at the organizational level. The article explores the gendered impact of new corporate values by identifying how the organizations' changing approach to selection and career development has unintended gendered consequences, af…
Exploring the Limits to Local Authority Social Care Commissioning
Building on international insights into the complexity of public services' procurement and its outcomes, this paper reveals the contradictory influences that generated ambiguous, volatile, and variable commissioning practices in social care commissioning for older adults in a 2008/09 case survey of 14 English local authorities (LAs). Their commissioning practices ranged from cost minimizing to partnership‐focused, with the more cost‐focused pract…
Rethinking job satisfaction in care work
Studies of care workers frequently reveal relatively high levels of job satisfaction despite poor employment conditions. The rewarding nature of care work, altruistic motivations and gendered social norms have all been used to explain why subjective job satisfaction is high despite poor pay and terms and conditions. Using data collected in case-study research with domiciliary and residential care workers, this article offers a new direction for c…
Intersectionality
Intersectional analysis has been developing since its emergence from critical race feminism in the 1980s when it was used to conceptualize the inter-relationship of race and gender and, particularly, the experiences of discrimination and marginalization of black women in employment. While its contribution has been much debated within sociological and gender specific journals, its use still remains relatively limited within studies of work and emp…
Employment relations and gender equality
This chapter argues that a gender lens has had four key impacts on the subject discipline. First, it has expanded the subject’s scope by going beyond the traditional embedding of workplace employment relations within product market, political and education and training institutions to include the family, welfare and gender relations. Second, a gender lens has extended the traditionally class-based focus on inequality and required the development …
A case of employers never letting a good crisis go to waste? An investigation of how work becomes even more precarious for hourly paid workers under Covid
The fragility of employers' voluntary, business‐case‐based improvements to employment standards for front‐line hourly paid staff is revealed in two organisational case studies from the art and care sectors. For different reasons, Covid provided a catalyst for employers to enact passive and active exit strategies that made work more precarious
Reinforced or disrupted ideal worker norms in the pandemic? Analyzing the gendered impact of the pandemic on professional specialisms in a Professional Services Firm in Kuwait
This paper uses a critical case study of a subsidiary of a multinational Professional Services Firm (PSF) in Kuwait to explore whether new organizational routines and ways of working in the pandemic created opportunities for gendered ideal worker norms to be challenged or modified. We revisited research findings from an in‐depth case study conducted in the pre‐Covid context where differentiated patterns of gendered ideal norms across Consulting, …
From Precarious Work to Precarious Lives
This article investigates the intersection between precarious work and precarious lives through interviews with workers in the care, hospitality and art sectors. These revealed that workers experienced precarity as a double-edged sword of time and income uncertainty shaped by the context in which they were embedded - namely their employment, their household and their relations with state welfare and care systems. These three domains shaped both t…
Could do better
Purpose Based on a dialogic discussion of an empirical case study narrative, the paper provides a “better practice” commentary to help hearing researchers include deaf workers as research participants. We argue that more attention should be paid to the concept of research inclusion in all organizational research in order to anticipate and operationalize research methods that allow for a full diversity of research participants to be included. Desi…
Political science (15 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Economics (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Work (physics (5 works)