Work's Intimacy

Beschreibung

This book provides a long-overdue account of online technology andits impact on the work and lifestyles of professional employees. Itmoves between the offices and homes of workers in the knew"knowledge" economy to provide intimate insight into the personal,family, and wider social tensions emerging in today's rapidlychanging work environment. Drawing on her extensive research, Gregg shows that new mediatechnologies encourage and exacerbate an older tendency amongsalaried professionals to put work at the heart of daily concerns,often at the expense of other sources of intimacy and fulfillment.New media technologies from mobile phones to laptops and tabletcomputers, have been marketed as devices that give us the freedomto work where we want, when we want, but little attention has beenpaid to the consequences of this shift, which has seen work moveout of the office and into cafés, trains, living rooms, diningrooms, and bedrooms. This professional "presence bleed" leads towork concerns impinging on the personal lives of employees in newand unforseen ways. This groundbreaking book explores how aspiring and establishedprofessionals each try to cope with the unprecedented intimacy oftechnologically-mediated work, and how its seductions seem poisedto triumph over the few remaining relationships that may stand inits way.

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Melissa Gregg

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Anthropologie Anthropology Social & Cultural Anthropology Soziale u. kulturelle Anthropologie

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"Is your working life afflicted by an increasing taskload, the'coercive dimensions' of teamwork, longer hours, job insecurity andthe intrusion of labour into personal life? Then Gregg's brilliantbook, based on athropological research in Brisbane but of globalsignificance, will show you that you are not alone. Writing oforganisations that continue to demand unidirectional 'loyalty' fromtheir workers, and of a woman whose office contacted her on everysingle day of her maternity leave, Gregg conveys a coollycontrolled anger while coining powerful descriptions such as'function creep' and 'binge work'. Her interviewees, baffled buttrying, elicit our empathy, even those who have internalised thebrutalist jargon of the modern office. If I ever use 'progress' or'action' as a transitive verb, please shoot me." Steven Poole, The Guardian "Author Melissa Gregg has put flesh on the bones of what manysuspected. Under the pretence of giving us the freedom to work atour own pace and wherever we choose, mobile phones, laptops and'tablet' computers have shackled us to our bosses' will in a waythat nothing has done since the treadmill." IrishTimes "An engaging read that will chime with the experiences ofacademics and many other professional workers." TimesHigher Education "A timely and important book, which raises essential questionsabout work, lifestyle, emotions and intimacy in the era of onlinetechnologies ... All interested in this book will not only findimportant scholarly discussion, but will also be made to rethinktheir own labour practices, priorities, and 'lives and loves'. Thismobilisation of achievement and accomplishment for rethinking ourown world, in which discourses of achievement and accomplishmentmonopolised all spheres of life, and in which the imperative tolove one's wok implies a troubling freedom is the effect of thisbook, which is at least equally important as the scholarlydiscussions it will trigger." Anthropological Notebooks "An important book that will transform the way we think aboutboth work and intimacy. Rich, moving, and scholarly,Work's Intimacy looks set to become a new classic in thefields of cultural studies, gender studies and the sociology oflabour." Rosalind Gill, King's College London "Gregg's remarkable analysis of the dispersed workplace couldnot be more relevant. It is a precious gift to scholars of modernwork, and it will also be invaluable to anyone struggling to meettoo many deadlines and balance too many obligations in pursuit of alivelihood today." Andrew Ross, author of Nice Work If You Can GetIt "Based on a rich body of empirical research, Work'sIntimacy provides us with a troubling, insightful and timelyanalysis of the partnership between online technologies and thechanging mythologies of work - and its impact on our everydaylives. Melissa Gregg has written an important book, carefullyunpicking so much of what we have come to take for granted in ourexperience of the ever-expanding boundaries of the workinglife." Graeme Turner, The University of Queensland
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