Identity in the Age of the New Economy

Identity in the Age of the New Economy is a multi-faceted view of contemporary employment and identity that questions a number of the myths related to the so-called new economy, knowledge society or network society. It argues that one of the most striking things about much contemporary theorizing on work and identity is the epochalist terms in which it is framed: changing forms of identity and subjectivity are assumed to be consequences of a shift to an entirely new economic, social and cultural era, signalled by concepts such as postmodernity, risk society, network society or new economy. The book deviates from the epochalist claim and follows the path of recent years' sociological/social-psychological analyses of identities, presenting detailed empirical studies of relational identities in scattered and temporary work practices. The authors demonstrate how identities are endogenous variables, focus on highly educated contingent employees and direct the analyses from the politics of interests to the politics of identities. Exploring the nexus between identity and the organization of work life, this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary book will be of great interest to both academics and practitioners in the fields of human resource management, industrial relations and psychology. It will also appeal to those with an interest in organization theory.