Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity

*Winner of the 2009 Distinguished Scholarly Monograph Prize, awarded by the American Sociological Association Labor and Labor Movements section* Claims have been made on the emergence of a new labour internationalism in response to the growing insecurity created by globalization. However, when persons face conditions of insecurity they often turn inwards. The book contains a warning and a sign of hope. Some workers become fatalistic, even xenophobic. Others are attempting to globalize their own struggles. Examines the claim that a new labour internationalism is emerging by grounding the book in evidence, rather than assertion Analyzes three distinct places – Orange, Australia; Changwon, South Korea; and Ezakheni, South Africa – and how they dealt with manufacturing plants undergoing restructuring Explores worker responses to rising levels of insecurity and examines preconditions for the emergence of counter-movements to such insecurities Highlights the significance of 'place' and 'scale', and demonstrates how the restructuring of multi-national corporations, and worker responses to this, connect the two concepts Content: Chapter 1 The Polanyi Problem and the Problem with Polanyi (pages 1–21): Chapter 2 Manufacturing Matters (pages 27–50): Chapter 3 The Return of Market Despotism (pages 51–77): Chapter 4 Citizenship Matters (pages 78–103): Chapter 5 Strong Winds in Ezakheni (pages 109–126): Chapter 6 Escaping Social Death in Changwon (pages 127–140): Chapter 7 Squeezing Orange (pages 141–156): Chapter 8 History Matters (pages 161–185): Chapter 9 Grounding Labour Internationalism (pages 186–211): Chapter 10 The Necessity for Utopian Thinking (pages 212–227):