Reinterpreting Law's Silence: Examining the Interconnections between Legal Doctrine and the Rise of Immaterial Labour

Recent years have seen a rise in immaterial labour in the United Kingdom and other developed economies. Sociological explanatory accounts of these developments focus primarily on economic drivers. Little, if any, inquiry has been made into the potential role of law. This article seeks to identify the aspects of law that may be constitutive of employer and worker perceptions of the acceptability (or otherwise) of employer demands for immaterial labour. Two key contributions are made. The first is a setting-out of a methodological approach to exploring the constitutive effect of law that emphasizes the internal operation of legal doctrine as critical to understanding its sociological implications. The second is the development of substantive knowledge on the potential role of law vis-à-vis the rise of immaterial labour.     

REFLECTIONS ON GENERATIONAL ANALYSIS: IS THERE A SHARED POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN?

Abstract. Diachronic investigation of partisan choice and issue orientation by generational analysis is a popular method of contemporary political research. There is as well increased interest in the role played by women in politics. Yet studies of European politics have rarely explored the utility of analysis which assumes shared generational political perspectives in explaining differences in the political behaviour and orientations of men and women. This paper evaluates generational analysis as an explanation of differences in the issue orientations of British men and women during the 1970 electoral campaign.