ABSTRACT

Tackling precarious work has been described by the United Nations (UN)’s International Labour Organization (ILO) as the main challenge facing the world of work. In this ground-breaking book, leading applied research scholars, advocates, and activists from across the globe respond to this challenge by showing how Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychology has a significant contribution to make in humanity moving away from precarious work situations towards sustainable livelihoods.

Broken down into four key parts on Sustainable Livelihoods, Fair Incomes, Work Security and Social Protection, the book covers a multitude of topics including the role of poor pay, lack of work-related security, social protection for human health and wellbeing, and interventions and policies to implement for the future of work. The volume offers a detailed look into useful and effective ways to tackle precarious work to create and maintain sustainable livelihoods. This curated collection of 22 chapters considers the broader relationships between previous research work and issues of human security and sustainability that affect workers, families, communities, and societies. Each chapter expands the present understandings of the world of precarious work and how it fits within broader issues of economic, ecological, and social sustainability.

In addition to I/O psychologists in research, practice, service and study, this book will also be useful for organizational researchers, labor unions, HR practitioners, fair trade, cooperative, and civil society organizations, social scientists, human security analysts, public health professionals, economists, and supporters of the UN SDGs, including at the UN.

Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

part I|118 pages

Sustainable Livelihoods

chapter 2|23 pages

From Precarious Work to Decent Work

Lessons from the United Nations and Humanitarian Work Psychology

chapter 3|18 pages

Psychology of Working Theory

Decent Work for Decent Lives

chapter 6|8 pages

“Let's Just Talk About It!”

Combating Precarious Work in Global Supply Chains

part II|99 pages

Fair Incomes

chapter 7|27 pages

The Living Wage in South Africa

A Psychological Approach from Cape Town and Tshwane

chapter 9|21 pages

Sufficiency Living Wage in Thailand

Exploring Buddhist Influences on Sustainable Livelihoods and Happiness

chapter 10|23 pages

Tackling Wage Inequality

The Maximum Wage 1

part III|165 pages

Work Security

chapter 11|33 pages

Informal Work as Sustainable Work

Pathways to Sustainable Livelihoods

chapter 12|22 pages

Making a Go of It in the Gig Economy

Understanding Risk in Platform-Based Work

chapter 13|23 pages

Sustainable Psychological Contracts

A Pathway for Addressing Precarious Employment

chapter 15|35 pages

Conceptualizing Underemployment as a Type of Precarious Work

Identifying Career-Stage Antecedents of Underemployment in Order to Address It

part IV|152 pages

Social Protection