Siobhán Mcgrath
Biographic Data
| ID | 3584443 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Siobhán Mcgrath |
| GIVEN NAMES | Siobhán |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcgrath |
| SIGNATURE | MCGRATH S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7827-0874 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 296 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Economic Geography for the Next Century
In this editorial we follow on from Murphy’s “Looking Back: Economic Geography’s Evolution, 1925–1991” (Murphy Citation2026), a critical and reflective history of EG, to reflect upon where matters are presently, and on future directions that we see as most relevant, urgent, and exciting
Life Stories of Garment Workers in India: Toward a Labor-Centric Labor Regimes Framework
This article contributes to a recent wave of literature formulating a renewed labor regimes framework as a means to understand the processes, relations, actors, and institutions through which conditions of work are produced under contemporary capitalism. This scholarship (partially) incorporates a feminist lens highlighting the centrality of social reproduction to the construction and persistence of particular labor regimes, and further calls for…
Unfreedom in labour relations: From a politics of rescue to a politics of solidarity
In this introduction to the Special Forum we seek to explore the possibilities for challenging labor unfreedoms through exercising solidarity. We critique the prevailing framings and dominant politics of ‘combatting modern-day slavery’ – or what we refer to here as contemporary abolitionism.We argue that questions of coercion, control, and confinement are nonetheless increasingly pertinent to the analysis of contemporary labor relations and labor…
The Business of Abolition: Marketizing 'Anti-slavery
This article conceptualizes contemporary abolitionism as a commodifying cause characterized by multiple processes of marketization. It demonstrates how concerns about the unethical commodification of labour form the basis of a variety of marketization projects and processes. Three processes of marketization in this arena are identified: making relations of advocacy and activism more market-like; seeking to rehabilitate and/or reform markets in th…
Enfin entendus? L'expression des travailleurs dans le cadre du Fair Food Program
Le Fair Food Program constitue un mécanisme permettant aux travailleurs agricoles de faire entendre leur voix de façon collective au sein des chaînes de valeur. Il met ainsi à l'honneur un modèle de responsabilité sociale qui dépend des travailleurs, plutôt que des entreprises. Les autrices détaillent les grandes composantes de ce système adaptable en montrant comment il a permis de répondre aux problèmes d'une population de travailleurs agricole…
Dead Labor: Towards a Political Economy of Premature Death. By James Tyner
James Tyner’s Dead Labor (2019) raises the important question of not only who lives and who dies in contemporary capitalism but also, crucially, “who increasingly profits from the death of the othe
Anti-slavery as development: A global politics of rescue
Unfree Labor
The persistence and reproduction of unfree labor challenge our understanding of labor relations under capitalism. Some of those concerned with this phenomenon label it “new slavery,” but this implies that it had ended and has since returned. An analysis which instead takes into account different mechanisms by which unfreedom can be imposed in labor relations reveals otherwise. Unfreedom in labor relations, understood as an exercise of power, has …
Dis/articulations and the interrogation of development in GPN research
In spite of serving as the purported goal of the global production network (GPN) approach, development has been left undefined in the GPN literature, with 'GPN 2.0' now offering an impoverished understanding of development. This article reviews the elaboration of the 'core concepts' of the GPN approach: value, power, embeddedness - and development. I argue that the dis/articulations perspective is useful in offering a critical interrogation of d/…
Temporary migration, precarious employment and unfree labour relations: Exploring the ‘continuum of exploitation’ in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Many Chains to Break: The Multi‐dimensional Concept of Slave Labour in Brazil
This article examines the concept of slave labour through two case studies from Brazil. One involves internal migrant workers and the other cross‐border migrant workers. There have been accusations of slave labour in both cases. I argue that slave labour is a multi‐dimensional concept and that cognate notions (eg forced and unfree labour) could also be reconceived as multi‐dimensional. Recent works have proposed that a continuum viewing labour re…
Workplace Conflict: Mobilization and Solidarity in Argentina - by Atzeni, Maurizio
Fuelling global production networks with slave labour: Migrant sugar cane workers in the Brazilian ethanol GPN
On the Character and Organization of Unregulated Work in the Cities of the United States
In this article, we analyze the routine violations of employment and labor laws—what we call "unregulated work"—in New York City and Chicago. In these jobs workers are paid less than the minimum wage, are subject to unsafe working conditions, and are fired for attempting to organize. These violations have become a routine part of the organization of production in industries that range from restaurants to construction to laundries to child care. U…
Social reproduction as unregulated work
In this article, two cases of paid social reproductive labour performed in the home in New York City are examined: subsidized child care and paid domestic work. Particular attention is paid to the organization of the industries and the experiences of employees in those worksites. It is demonstrated that there continues to be a persistent and wilful exclusion of this work from regulation, as well as systematic violations of those regulations which…
Stitching Together a Movement? Three Works about Globalization, the Apparel Industry, and Anti-sweatshop Activism
Temporary migration, precarious employment and unfree labour relations: Exploring the ‘continuum of exploitation’ in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Dis/articulations and the interrogation of development in GPN research
In spite of serving as the purported goal of the global production network (GPN) approach, development has been left undefined in the GPN literature, with 'GPN 2.0' now offering an impoverished understanding of development. This article reviews the elaboration of the 'core concepts' of the GPN approach: value, power, embeddedness - and development. I argue that the dis/articulations perspective is useful in offering a critical interrogation of d/…
Fuelling global production networks with slave labour: Migrant sugar cane workers in the Brazilian ethanol GPN
Anti-slavery as development: A global politics of rescue
Many Chains to Break: The Multi‐dimensional Concept of Slave Labour in Brazil
This article examines the concept of slave labour through two case studies from Brazil. One involves internal migrant workers and the other cross‐border migrant workers. There have been accusations of slave labour in both cases. I argue that slave labour is a multi‐dimensional concept and that cognate notions (eg forced and unfree labour) could also be reconceived as multi‐dimensional. Recent works have proposed that a continuum viewing labour re…
Social reproduction as unregulated work
In this article, two cases of paid social reproductive labour performed in the home in New York City are examined: subsidized child care and paid domestic work. Particular attention is paid to the organization of the industries and the experiences of employees in those worksites. It is demonstrated that there continues to be a persistent and wilful exclusion of this work from regulation, as well as systematic violations of those regulations which…
On the Character and Organization of Unregulated Work in the Cities of the United States
In this article, we analyze the routine violations of employment and labor laws—what we call "unregulated work"—in New York City and Chicago. In these jobs workers are paid less than the minimum wage, are subject to unsafe working conditions, and are fired for attempting to organize. These violations have become a routine part of the organization of production in industries that range from restaurants to construction to laundries to child care. U…
Unfreedom in labour relations: From a politics of rescue to a politics of solidarity
In this introduction to the Special Forum we seek to explore the possibilities for challenging labor unfreedoms through exercising solidarity. We critique the prevailing framings and dominant politics of ‘combatting modern-day slavery’ – or what we refer to here as contemporary abolitionism.We argue that questions of coercion, control, and confinement are nonetheless increasingly pertinent to the analysis of contemporary labor relations and labor…
The Business of Abolition: Marketizing 'Anti-slavery
This article conceptualizes contemporary abolitionism as a commodifying cause characterized by multiple processes of marketization. It demonstrates how concerns about the unethical commodification of labour form the basis of a variety of marketization projects and processes. Three processes of marketization in this arena are identified: making relations of advocacy and activism more market-like; seeking to rehabilitate and/or reform markets in th…
Economic Geography for the Next Century
In this editorial we follow on from Murphy’s “Looking Back: Economic Geography’s Evolution, 1925–1991” (Murphy Citation2026), a critical and reflective history of EG, to reflect upon where matters are presently, and on future directions that we see as most relevant, urgent, and exciting
Life Stories of Garment Workers in India: Toward a Labor-Centric Labor Regimes Framework
This article contributes to a recent wave of literature formulating a renewed labor regimes framework as a means to understand the processes, relations, actors, and institutions through which conditions of work are produced under contemporary capitalism. This scholarship (partially) incorporates a feminist lens highlighting the centrality of social reproduction to the construction and persistence of particular labor regimes, and further calls for…
Stitching Together a Movement? Three Works about Globalization, the Apparel Industry, and Anti-sweatshop Activism
On the Character and Organization of Unregulated Work in the Cities of the United States
In this article, we analyze the routine violations of employment and labor laws—what we call "unregulated work"—in New York City and Chicago. In these jobs workers are paid less than the minimum wage, are subject to unsafe working conditions, and are fired for attempting to organize. These violations have become a routine part of the organization of production in industries that range from restaurants to construction to laundries to child care. U…
Social reproduction as unregulated work
In this article, two cases of paid social reproductive labour performed in the home in New York City are examined: subsidized child care and paid domestic work. Particular attention is paid to the organization of the industries and the experiences of employees in those worksites. It is demonstrated that there continues to be a persistent and wilful exclusion of this work from regulation, as well as systematic violations of those regulations which…
Fuelling global production networks with slave labour: Migrant sugar cane workers in the Brazilian ethanol GPN
Many Chains to Break: The Multi‐dimensional Concept of Slave Labour in Brazil
This article examines the concept of slave labour through two case studies from Brazil. One involves internal migrant workers and the other cross‐border migrant workers. There have been accusations of slave labour in both cases. I argue that slave labour is a multi‐dimensional concept and that cognate notions (eg forced and unfree labour) could also be reconceived as multi‐dimensional. Recent works have proposed that a continuum viewing labour re…
Workplace Conflict: Mobilization and Solidarity in Argentina - by Atzeni, Maurizio
Temporary migration, precarious employment and unfree labour relations: Exploring the ‘continuum of exploitation’ in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Unfree Labor
The persistence and reproduction of unfree labor challenge our understanding of labor relations under capitalism. Some of those concerned with this phenomenon label it “new slavery,” but this implies that it had ended and has since returned. An analysis which instead takes into account different mechanisms by which unfreedom can be imposed in labor relations reveals otherwise. Unfreedom in labor relations, understood as an exercise of power, has …
Dis/articulations and the interrogation of development in GPN research
In spite of serving as the purported goal of the global production network (GPN) approach, development has been left undefined in the GPN literature, with 'GPN 2.0' now offering an impoverished understanding of development. This article reviews the elaboration of the 'core concepts' of the GPN approach: value, power, embeddedness - and development. I argue that the dis/articulations perspective is useful in offering a critical interrogation of d/…
Anti-slavery as development: A global politics of rescue
Dead Labor: Towards a Political Economy of Premature Death. By James Tyner
James Tyner’s Dead Labor (2019) raises the important question of not only who lives and who dies in contemporary capitalism but also, crucially, “who increasingly profits from the death of the othe
Enfin entendus? L'expression des travailleurs dans le cadre du Fair Food Program
Le Fair Food Program constitue un mécanisme permettant aux travailleurs agricoles de faire entendre leur voix de façon collective au sein des chaînes de valeur. Il met ainsi à l'honneur un modèle de responsabilité sociale qui dépend des travailleurs, plutôt que des entreprises. Les autrices détaillent les grandes composantes de ce système adaptable en montrant comment il a permis de répondre aux problèmes d'une population de travailleurs agricole…
Unfreedom in labour relations: From a politics of rescue to a politics of solidarity
In this introduction to the Special Forum we seek to explore the possibilities for challenging labor unfreedoms through exercising solidarity. We critique the prevailing framings and dominant politics of ‘combatting modern-day slavery’ – or what we refer to here as contemporary abolitionism.We argue that questions of coercion, control, and confinement are nonetheless increasingly pertinent to the analysis of contemporary labor relations and labor…
The Business of Abolition: Marketizing 'Anti-slavery
This article conceptualizes contemporary abolitionism as a commodifying cause characterized by multiple processes of marketization. It demonstrates how concerns about the unethical commodification of labour form the basis of a variety of marketization projects and processes. Three processes of marketization in this arena are identified: making relations of advocacy and activism more market-like; seeking to rehabilitate and/or reform markets in th…
Life Stories of Garment Workers in India: Toward a Labor-Centric Labor Regimes Framework
This article contributes to a recent wave of literature formulating a renewed labor regimes framework as a means to understand the processes, relations, actors, and institutions through which conditions of work are produced under contemporary capitalism. This scholarship (partially) incorporates a feminist lens highlighting the centrality of social reproduction to the construction and persistence of particular labor regimes, and further calls for…
Economic Geography for the Next Century
In this editorial we follow on from Murphy’s “Looking Back: Economic Geography’s Evolution, 1925–1991” (Murphy Citation2026), a critical and reflective history of EG, to reflect upon where matters are presently, and on future directions that we see as most relevant, urgent, and exciting
Political science (13 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Economics (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Labour economics (7 works) · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Sex work and related issues (6 works)