Teleworking and Participatory Capital: Is Teleworking an Isolating or a Community-Friendly Form of Work?

Does teleworking contribute to the likelihood of community participation or social isolation? The secondary analysis of two European Working Conditions Surveys (2000, 2001) investigated the correlates of telework. A representative sample of the economically active population included in total 32,760...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European sociological review 2004-09, Vol.20 (4), p.345-361
Main Authors: Kamerade, Daiga, Burchell, Brendan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Civics
Community
Community participation
Demography
Europe
European Union
Home Workplaces
Modeling
Occupations
Scope of employment
Self employment
Social capital
Social Isolation
Social Participation
Sociology
Sociology of work
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
Surveys
Telecommunications
Telework
Volunteerism
Work hours
Work organization. Working relations
Workers
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Summary:Does teleworking contribute to the likelihood of community participation or social isolation? The secondary analysis of two European Working Conditions Surveys (2000, 2001) investigated the correlates of telework. A representative sample of the economically active population included in total 32,760 employed or self-employed individuals in 15 European Union and 12 candidate countries; 4.7 per cent were teleworkers. Contrary to claims that teleworking can lead to a society of isolated individuals, this study reveals that teleworking seems to be a community-friendly form of work. The results indicate that teleworkers tend to report participation in both voluntary/charitable activities and in political/trade union activities more than non-teleworkers, after controlling for demographic and labour market variables. These results are discussed in terms of the debate between technological determinism and futurism/utopianism.
ISSN:0266-7215
1468-2672
DOI:10.1093/esr/jch030