„Nevertheless, the book is accessibly written, and the varietyof themes it explores will ensure it has broad appeal amongundergraduates and postgraduates studying social division, gender, service work, labour relations and their relationships. The bookalso provides academics working in and across the disciplines ofsociology and human geography with a good overview of research intointeractive work and its implications in contemporary society.“(Work, Employment & Society, 25 March 2011)
"Between the covers of this beautifully crafted book is athoughtful, innovative, and thorough analysis of high-touchinteractive service work that draws on numerous case studies andethnographies, mostly from the United Kingdom, and on the author'sown original research. . . . This ambitious book is insightful andinformative, and it makes a valuable contribution to the study ofwork in contemporary capitalist societies". (Canadian Journal ofSociology, 2010)There are many books on service employment, but very few like this one. In this beautifully written and thoughtful book Linda McDowell shows, in turn, how such employment should not be seen as a new phenomenon, brings the cares, emotions and exploitations that go into servicing the bodies of others (children, consumers, elders, families, buyers of sexual services) close into view, and outlines a complex range of attributes - from skills and capabilities to personal and bodily features - that now count as essential employment requirements. The humdrum comes alive in the hands of this skilled ethnographer of work. Ash Amin, Durham University
Linda McDowell's state-of-the-art discussion demonstrates not only the importance of embodiment for current understandings of work but also the centrality of the workplace for the study of embodiment. Her analysis of high-touch interactive service work is comprehensive, concise and compelling, drawing on a wealth of case studies as well as her own original research. This timely volume raises a host of fascinating issues and will be an invaluable resource across the social sciences.
Miriam Glucksmann, University of Essex
Through a series of case studies of low-status interactive andembodied servicing work, Working Bodies examines thetheoretical and empirical nature of the shift to embodied work inservice-dominated economies.
* Defines 'body work' to include the work by servicesector employees on their own bodies and on the bodies ofothers
* Sets UK case studies in the context of global patterns ofeconomic change
* Explores the consequences of growing polarization in theservice sector
* Draws on geography, sociology, anthropology, labour marketstudies, and feminist scholarship
* Defines 'body work' to include the work by servicesector employees on their own bodies and on the bodies ofothers
* Sets UK case studies in the context of global patterns ofeconomic change
* Explores the consequences of growing polarization in theservice sector
* Draws on geography, sociology, anthropology, labour marketstudies, and feminist scholarship
