Contingent Work and the Rhetoric of Autonomy

Based on interviews conducted in 1986/87 with 9 part-time workers & 12 temporaries recruited from establishments in the private & public sectors in Lansing, Mich, the expansion of part-time & temporary employment in the US is documented, & the rhetoric of autonomy used by employers t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Humanity & society 1990-02, Vol.14 (1), p.16-33
Main Author: Negrey, Cynthia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Employers
Part Time Employment
Rhetoric
United States of America
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Summary:Based on interviews conducted in 1986/87 with 9 part-time workers & 12 temporaries recruited from establishments in the private & public sectors in Lansing, Mich, the expansion of part-time & temporary employment in the US is documented, & the rhetoric of autonomy used by employers to promote part-time & temporary jobs illustrated. The nature of work schedules, worker control of schedules, & quality of leisure time are discussed, & recent theories of postindustrialism put forth by Daniel Bell & Andre Gorz are reviewed. The data reveal that: stable schedules enhance organizational planning, although temporal autonomy is restricted when the worker has little control over his/her work schedule; temporal autonomy is diminished by 40-hour/week schedules because workers have relatively little time off the job; & irregular schedules severely limit individuals' autonomy off the job, despite seemingly large amounts of time off the job. It is concluded that the impediment to planning imposed by irregular work schedules is eliminated when workers control their own schedules. 1 Figure, 29 References. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0160-5976
2372-9708
DOI:10.1177/016059769001400103