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Labour Power and Labour Process

Contesting the Marginality of the Sociology of Work

Bibliographic Data

ID2321968
AuthorsPaul Thompson (0000-0003-2476-2803, University of Strathclyde, corresponding author), Chris Smith (0000-0002-1348-189X, Royal Holloway University of London, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume43
Issue5
Pages913-930
Publication date2009-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0038038509340728
OpenAlexW1993891135
LanguageEN
Citations received104
References cited63

This article opens by suggesting that the decline in the sociology of work in the UK has been overstated; research continues, but in locations such as business schools. The continued vitality of the field corresponds with material changes in an increasingly globalized capitalism, with more workers in the world, higher employment participation rates of women, transnational shifts in manufacturing, global expansion of services and temporal and spatial stretching of work with advanced information communication technologies. The article demonstrates that Labour Process Theory (LPT) has been a crucial resource in the sociology of work, especially in the UK; core propositions of LPT provide it with resources for resilience (to counter claims of rival perspectives) and innovation (to expand the scope and explanator y power of the sociology of work). The ar ticle argues that the concept of the labour power has been critical to underpinning the sustained influence of labour process analysis

Capitalism · Economic sociology · Economics · Field (mathematics) · Industrial sociology · Operations management · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Process (computing) · Process theory · Scope (computer science) · Social science · Sociology · Underpinning · Vitality · Work (physics) · Work in process · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law

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Unique citing works104
Citations per year6,12
Citation span2009 - 2026 (18)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 98
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