Niall Cullinane

From Power Looms to Platforms examines the evolution of thinking surrounding technological change in the labour process tradition. Niall Cullinane combines historical review with a contemporary appreciation of technological change in modern labour processes to evaluate key moments of theoretical development and empirical understanding. Chapters assess the key thematic areas of interest that technology presents from a labour process perspective. They explore technological determinism, labour control, the consequences for skill, the response of labour unions and the alternative technological designs that can support worker interests. By embedding the analysis in an awareness of how capitalist political economy shapes the labour process, Cullinane facilitates critique of the assumptions behind the Future of Work discourse that prevail under the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Scholars of business, management, employment relations, innovation and technology will greatly benefit from this consolidation of key intellectual discussions on technological change within the labour process tradition. It is also an excellent entry point for students in providing an understanding of how technology has been interpreted in the labour process tradition.

In Employment Relations the authors translate years of experience, with the help of interesting vignettes, real life examples and connections with popular culture, into a critical understanding of the topic that brings the field to life. Conceived by Chris Grey as an antidote to conventional textbooks, each book in the ‘Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap’ series takes a core area of the curriculum and turns it on its head by providing a critical and sophisticated overview of the key issues and debates in an informal, conversational and often humorous way. An excellent supplementary text for Employment Relations and HRM students or anyone interested in a short, succinct book on the subject of Employment Relations.

In Employment Relations the authors translate years of experience, with the help of interesting vignettes, real life examples and connections with popular culture, into a critical understanding of the topic that brings the field to life. Conceived by Chris Grey as an antidote to conventional textbooks, each book in the ‘Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap’ series takes a core area of the curriculum and turns it on its head by providing a critical and sophisticated overview of the key issues and debates in an informal, conversational and often humorous way. An excellent supplementary text for Employment Relations and HRM students or anyone interested in a short, succinct book on the subject of Employment Relations.