Work Without Boundaries: Psychological Perspectives on the New Working Life

About the Authors vii

Foreword by Cary L. Cooper ix

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

1 The New Work 1

The new inequality 4

New markets and new structures 7

The new work life 13

What is so new about “The New Work”? 16

The new and the old work 18

The purpose and structure of this book 22

2 The New Rules of Work: On Flexible Work and How to Manage It 25

Flexible work 29

Flexibility through empowerment 35

Flexibility through substitution 48

Separate paths? 60

3 The New Work Life and the Dimensions of Knowledge 69

The cognitive knowledge demands 71

The social knowledge demands 81

The societal knowledge demands 97

The existential knowledge demands 10 7

Some concluding considerations 120

4 The Place of Work in Life 123

Separate spheres 126

Competing spheres 129

Coping with boundaries 130

Mutually favored spheres 133

New conditions outside work life: the consumption society 134

The moral supermarket 138

The market aesthetic 141

The new family 144

Organizing living 149

Conflict and balance in life 158

An individual matter 162

5 Work Life, Stress, and the New Ill Health 163

Stress as a social problem and research area 167

Stress models for the work life 172

The new work life as a source of stress 189

The new ill health 205

The new ill health, work environment, and the possibility space of work 212

6 Some Concluding Comments and Reflections 217

The deregulation of working life 218

The individualization of working life 219

The heterogenization of working life 220

The new inequality 221

New strains and symptoms 222

Flexibility and power in times of economic recession 223

Future – trust or new forms and fields for external regulation? 225

References 229

Index 253