| Unit name | Geographies of Work and Employment |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOG25211 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. MacLeavy |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Year 1 Human Geography |
| Co-requisites |
Year 2C syllabus |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
This unit explores how the human struggles to ‘make a living’ simultaneously shape and are shaped by changing socio-economic environments. The unit starts by exploring different theoretical perspectives on work, both paid and unpaid. Adopting a primary focus on workers in advanced capitalist economies, it then establishes the theoretical foundations for understanding various divisions of labour. Through a mix of lectures and seminars we will discuss both new and old spatial divisions of paid and unpaid labour at the international, urban and household scales. In the context of the newly emerging international division of labour, we will examine changing dimensions of work, workers and workplaces. We will also look at the geographies of growing precariousness in the labour market and the impacts of new technologies and changing organisation of workplaces on the labouring body. Lastly, the importance of organised labour and the regulation of work will be discussed, paying particular attention to its rise in the post-war period and its present decline in several jurisdictions.
This unit aims to introduce students to contemporary theoretical and empirical debates in labour geography. This unit also aims to help students develop the ability to pose purposeful questions within these debates and to cultivate intellectual curiosity about their context. It foregrounds the political economic geography principles outlined in the Year 3 Political Economy unit (GEOG36000) through research orientated case studies that detail the social processes, structures and causes underlying capitalist development.
On completion of this unit students should be able to:
The following transferable skills are:
Lectures and seminars
Nature of the formative assessment:
The seminars provide an opportunity to monitor and feedback on student learning. Through the use of seminar handouts with questions for small group discussion, students will be encouraged to discuss their understanding of the contemporary theoretical and empirical debates on the topics of work and employment to which they are introduced in the lectures. The unit director will provide verbal feedback in the seminars and answer questions and points of clarification. Through the seminars, the unit director will be able to identify student learning needs and realign subsequent lectures in an attempt to better address them.
Nature of summative assessment:
The summative assessment consists of a 3000-word essay (100%) circulated after the final lecture of the unit. This will assess the students’ knowledge of the key themes, concepts and case studies outlined in the unit. It will also require students to be capable at written communication, critical thinking, organisational skills and making effective use of wider literatures to support their argument.
Castree, N, Coe, N, Ward, K and Samers, M (2004) Spaces of Work: Global Capitalism and the Geographies of Labour, London: Sage
Hutton, W and Giddens, A (Eds) (2001) On the Edge: Living With Global Capitalism, London: Vintage
McDowell, L (2003) Redundant Masculinities? Employment Change and White Working Class Youth, Oxford: Blackwell
McDowell, L (2009) Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities, Wiley
Peck, J (1996) Work-Place: The Social Regulation of Labour Markets, London: Guilford
Tilly C and Tilly C (1998) Work Under Capitalism, Boulder, CO: Westview Press
Additional required readings will be uploaded and available on Blackboard (our unit website). Further reading recommendations will be listed in the course handbook that will be circulated in the first lecture.
