ABSTRACT
Economic globalization is transforming not only the kinds of work available, but also the micro processes that constitute the work individuals engage in and come to identify with as workers. In the fi nal quarter of the last century and, so far in this century, there have been transformational changes in the kinds of work available, how work is practised and performance requirements for work (Billett, 2006b). Transformations in global economic activity, technology and the cultural needs (e.g. McBrier and Wilson, 2004) have rendered participating in work more turbulent. Indeed, much is made of the disempowerment and anxiety caused by
the turbulent and uncertain nature of contemporary work (e.g. Giddens, 1991; Bauman, 1998; Beck, 1992). Clearly, some of these changes can be disempowering and dispossessing. However, the impact of globalization, whilst ubiquitous, may not be as uniform, universal, equally severe or pervasive as some accounts suggest. To understand these changes and their impact upon individuals requires going beyond ‘objective’ measures of work transformation, changing patterns of employment and participation of work, as important as these are, to include the subjective experience of those who work and negotiate these changes. Only through understanding the consequences of these changes upon individuals can assertions about their impact be made with confi dence.
