Putting Work in Its Place

Most books on the subject of work focus on the increased amount of time Americans spend on the job. Peter Meiksins and Peter Whalley address the counter-trend, examining the difficult path traversed by people who choose to work less than the standard...

Peter Meiksins is Professor of Sociology at Cleveland State University. He is the coauthor, with Chris Smith, of Engineering Labor: Technical Workers in Comparative Perspective. Peter Whalley is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Loyola University, Chicago, and the author of The Social Production of Technical Work: The Case of British Engineers. Stephen R. Barley is the coeditor, with Julian Orr, of Between Craft and Science: Technical Work in the United States, also from Cornell.

This is an optimistic book, full of hope that by customizing hours at work without traditionalizing gender roles at home, many can experience a fuller measure of life.

Choice, September 2002:

This engaging and provocative contribution to the sociology of work describes how a sample of professional technical workers.... attempt to restructure work to accommodate family and other nonwork obligations as well as reduce the pressures of work itself.... This volume is a well-conceived analysis and call to action. Recommended for general readers and lower-division undergraduates through professionals.

Janet H. Marler, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 56:2, January 2003.:

The book's best features are the richness of its qualitative data and the insightfulness of its sociologically framed analyses, which are often gently iconoclastic in approach and substance. Meiksins and Whalley take on cultural myths that serve to marginalize those whose careers differ from the norm. Notably, they effectively rebut the unspoken assumptions that anyone who chooses not to follow a normative career is eccentric, non-committed, or wishy-washy.

Stephen Cass, IEEE Spectrum, June 2002:

Putting Work in Its Place is an easy read. Indeed, the work at times resembles pop sociology more than an academic treatise. But the authors cite scholarly works as well, being published authorities on technological employment issues.... The authors make some important points.... The authors are advocates of part-time work and offer suggestions for those who would like to follow suit.

SciTech Book News, June 2002:

Meiksins and Whalley interview technical professionals... who have customized their work arrangements in order to live more enriching lives. Exploring the motivations, strategies, and practices of these professionals, the authors deliberately aim to provide successful examples to others.

Lotte Bailyn, Sloan School of Management, MIT:

Meiksins and Whalley contribute valuable data to a growing literature on reduced-time arrangements and flexibility in work conditions in the contemporary workplace. Putting Work in Its Place is an important and useful book.