2004 Work - Brown reading

Question 1

when was the study published?

Answer 1

2004

Question 2

what idea has Durkheim been influential in?

Answer 2

meritocracy

Question 3

how many times more were the top 100 US Fortune CEOS paid than the average worker in 1970?

Answer 3

39

Question 4

what does the knowledge based economy now depend on? (2)

Answer 4

on technological innovation and the intellectual capital of a highly skilled workforce.

Question 5

how does the knowledge economy differ from the industrial economy of the past?

Answer 5

no longer depends on the mass production of standardized goods and services that are made and sold by vast armies of blue-collar and white-collar employees

Question 6

why can it now be seen that there is a ‘war for talent’?

Answer 6

seen to reflect the greater complexity of managerial roles due to globalization, deregulation, and rapid advances in technology

Question 7

why is there now more pressure on employees to remain employable, even within the same job? (2)

Answer 7

as work roles are subject to rapid change and consistently high levels of performance are demanded of everyone

Question 8

why has there been a shift from employment to employability?

Answer 8

many companies are no longer able (or willing) to offer long-term career opportunities to their managers and professionals

Question 9

what is the boundaryless career?

Answer 9

all rather than a few privileged employees have a ‘career’ that may involve changing jobs on a regular basis. It highlights the need for marketable skills and external networks that offer invaluable contacts and job information

Question 10

what is freeing about the boundaryless career?

Answer 10

freedom and ‘independence from . . . traditional organizational career arrangements’.

Question 11

what characteristics did Leadbeater define for the ‘knowledge workers’? (6)

Answer 11

mobile, skilled, affluent, independent, hardworking, ambitious

Question 12

what is the consensus perspective of the new ‘knowledge workers’?

Answer 12

the conflict between the aspirations of individuals for meaningful work and organizational efficiency has been resolved

Question 13

how can the changing value of human capital be seen in relation to workers?

Answer 13

Those able to sell their knowledge in the global economy have enjoyed a spectacular rise in economic fortune, whereas those with few marketable skills find their living standards under increasing pressure as they confront competition from other workers around the world willing to work for a lot less.

Question 14

what is the implication of “learning is earning”?

Answer 14

it is argued that those who stand to benefit through increased salaries should pay more towards the cost of their studies

Question 15

what is the new major policy difficulty?

Answer 15

how to encourage more students from non-traditional backgrounds to take advantage of the new opportunities that are open to them

Question 16

how can the potential of knowledge work be highlighted in a global economy?

Answer 16

the potential for knowledge work is greatly increased if nations can win a competitive advantage in the ‘knowledge wars’

Question 17

what happens to some nations as a result of globalisation?

Answer 17

nations can become magnet economies attracting a disproportionate share of the global supply of high skilled, high waged jobs.

Question 18

what has the expansion of higher education led to?

Answer 18

led to greater differentiation in the perceived ‘quality’ of both students and universities

Question 19

what is credential inflation?

Answer 19

as more people gain the qualifications previously required for a job, and if the number of jobs don’t expand, then the value of the credential will decline

Question 20

however, how can the viewpoint of some nations being magnets be seen as oversimplified?

Answer 20

it ignores differences in the power of individuals and social groups to enhance their employability at the expense of others. A growing supply of knowledgeable workers does not mean that they will find knowledge work.

Question 21

what happens during labour shortages?

Answer 21

the unemployed become ‘employable’, and conversely the opposite

Question 22

what two dimensions of employability can be seen?

Answer 22

the relative and absolute

Question 23

how do individuals limit themselves in their occupations? example?

Answer 23

People tend to limit the range of jobs they apply for to those they feel (correctly or otherwise) they have a chance of getting, as well as to what they think is appropriate. An obvious example is the way gender socialization

Question 24

what does employability now rely on more than ever?

Answer 24

depends on the personality package that needs to be sold in the competition for tough-entry jobs

Question 25

why are employees not really free?

Answer 25

dependent on a job in order to live

Question 26

what is associated with the democratisation of job insecurity?

Answer 26

an intensification of work leading to a culture of long hours, and a lack of clearly defined career opportunities

Question 27

what does the intensification of work require?

Answer 27

it depends on working long hours, consistently meeting short deadlines, maintaining good mental and physical health, and significant investments of time, effort, and money in career maintenance

Question 28

what is the evidence in the US of seriously rich families rigging inheritance laws to make it easier to pass on inheritance?

Answer 28

In a context of increasing positional competition they are seeking to reproduce their advantage through wealth and ownership rather than credential competition. This is not to say that they will not buy access to elite kindergartens, schools, colleges, and universities, as this is an important source of cultural and social capital, but having enough money to remove the need for waged work is an invaluable insurance policy.

Question 29

why can’t the middle class get involved in this? what must they do instead?

Answer 29

need to translate their cultural advantage into ‘hard’ (e.g. credentials) and ‘soft’ (e.g. personal qualities) currencies to be exchanged in the market for jobs.
The middle classes have little option other than to capitalize on their cultural assets via education