Michael J. Piore Livres

Birds of Passage presents an unorthodox analysis of migration ion to urban industrial societies from underdeveloped rual areas. It argues that such migrations are a continuing feature of industrial societies and that they are generated by forces inherent in the nature of industrial economies. It explains why conventional economic theory finds such migrations so difficult to comprehend, and challenges a set of older assumptions that supported the view that these migrations were beneficial to both sending and receiving societies. Professor Piore seriously questions whether migration actually relieves population pressure and rural unemployment, and whether it develops skills necessary for the emergence of an industrial labour force in the home country. Furthermore, he criticizes the notion that in the long run migrant labour complements native labour. On the basis of this critique, he develops an alternative theory of the nature of the migration process.

Comprises essays which examine changes in industrial relations and work structures in 11 countries.

Work is more deadly than war, and the U.S. has one of the highest rates of occupational fatality in the developed world. Why, after a century of reform, are U.S. workers growing less secure? Michael Piore and Andrew Schrank show how regulation can be a generative force for both workers and employers, rather than the job-killer of neoliberal theory.

Bringing the study of international inequality back into the core of sociological theory, this book offers a user-friendly introduction to development and underdevelopment. In doing so, it places various approaches to the definition and measurement of “development” against the backdrop of broader sociological debates. Schrank draws concrete examples from different regions and epochs to explore sociological thinking about development and underdevelopment informed by the latest currents in economic sociology. Across a series of chapters, he identifies relationships between mainstream and Marxist approaches to the study of international inequality; uses classical and contemporary social theory to develop a parsimonious typology of national development outcomes; addresses cross-border learning and diffusion in light of the latest developments in organization theory; considers the roles of religious, racial, and gender identity in driving development in different places and times; and portrays contemporary global challenges—such as populism, pandemics, and climate change—as distinctly sociological problems in need of multifaceted solutions. Enriched with expository figures, tables and diagrams, this accessible book simultaneously distils and develops the sociological approach to the study of development and underdevelopment for both undergraduate and graduate students across the social sciences.