Journal Articles by Jo Grady
Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century did much to bring discussions of economic inequality... more Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century did much to bring discussions of economic inequality into the intellectual and popular mainstream. This article indicates how business, management and organization studies can productively engage with Piketty’s book. It does this by deriving practical consequences from Piketty’s proposed division of intellectual labour in general and his account of ‘super-managers’ in particular. There are organizational specificities to inequality which Piketty’s framework does not address, however. His account of corporate governance, of tax avoidance policy and of financialization, in particular, requires significant conceptual and empirical supplementation. We argue that business, management and organizational scholars should contribute to the cross-disciplinary inequality research project which Capital in the 21st Century proposes not despite these limitations but because of them.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Employee Relations, 2017
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of specific active labour market policies (ALMP)... more The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of specific active labour market policies (ALMP) and increased use of zero hour contracts (ZHCs) in creating an environment in which low-wage jobs flourish. Alongside these, it examines the role of financialization over the last 30 years in fostering the nuturalization of policies that institutionalize low wages and deregulate the economy in favour of big business.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Gender Work and Organization , 2015
This paper argues that the UK pension system is gender blind and is structured around a heteropat... more This paper argues that the UK pension system is gender blind and is structured around a heteropatriarchal experience. It does so by analysing two key pieces of UK pension policy: the New Flat Rate State Pension and Auto-Enrolment. Since the 1980s the value of the British state pension has fallen, and it is now worth half what it was in 1979. This presents a particular disadvantage for women who not only tend to be lower paid, but because of a gendered occupational life course, also tend to work part-time hours, and thus also fail to work the number of qualifying years for the full state pension. Traditionally, this results in a pension penalty for women. It is argued that the New Flat Rate State Pension and Auto-Enrolment will counteract this disadvantage, and political discourses used by policymakers claim that they will also create a fairer society. The argument presented here seeks to demonstrate that this claim is problematic by exposing how (i) gender blindness prevents gender equality in pension provision delivery, and (ii) how the formulation of these policies are actually reinforced by a heteropatriarchal welfare system, which fundamentally undermines the contribution made by women to the economy.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This article is the first to investigate the growth of anarchist ideology and tactics in Gibralta... more This article is the first to investigate the growth of anarchist ideology and tactics in Gibraltar and the surrounding Spanish region, the Campo de Gibraltar, in the period 1890–1902. We draw upon hitherto unused material from both The National Archives in London and the Gibraltar Government Archives. By doing so, we demonstrate that during this period Gibraltarian and Spanish workers came together, not only to defend and advance their interests by direct action, such as strikes and attacks on employers, but also to advance educational and social causes too. Indeed, by 1898–1899, the appeal of this movement was so strong that an attempt by the British Social Democratic Federation to establish a more constitutionalist approach to industrial relations failed. By 1902, the power of anarchist movements and tactics concerned employers in Gibraltar, so greatly that they engineered a lockout – styled a general strike by local workers – and successfully smashed the organising power of the local movement. Meanwhile, on the Spanish side of the frontier, a massacre engineered by the local Spanish authorities resulted in the deaths of a number of activists and a hiatus in the movement that would last until the Great War of 1914–1918.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Despite the international reach, and increasing global importance, of the free market provision o... more Despite the international reach, and increasing global importance, of the free market provision of military and security services - which we label the Private Security Industry - management and organisation studies has yet to pay significant attention to this industry. Taking up Grey’s (2009) call for scholarship at the boundaries between security studies and organisation studies and building on Banerjee’s (2008) treatment of the PSI as a key element in necrocapitalism, in this paper we aim to trace the long history of the PSI and argue that it has re-emerged over the last two decades against, and as a result of, a very specific politico-economic backdrop. We then suggest that the PSI operates as a mechanism for neoliberal imperialism; demonstrate its substitution for and supplementing of the state; and count some of the costs of this privatisation of war. Finally, we take seriously Hughes’s (2007) thesis of the growth of a new security-industrial complex, and of the intersecting elites who benefit from this phenomenon.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Capital and Class, Sep 2014
This paper examines capitalist imperialism both in contemporary and in historical perspective. T... more This paper examines capitalist imperialism both in contemporary and in historical perspective. To do so, it draws on the classic 1953 work of the historians of British imperialism John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson and combines it with the Marxist understandings of contemporary capitalism offered by, for example, Alex Callinicos, Terry Eagleton, and David Harvey. By doing so, continuities in the operation of capitalist imperialism, be it operated by Britain or the United States, are drawn out. Examined via Gallagher and Robinson, such continuities include the willingness of states to engage in imperial action (regardless of public statements of anti-imperial sentiment); the use of formal and informal control to secure the frontiers of a state’s expanding economy; and the operation of imperialism through collaboration. However, in order to avoid the problems of earlier Marxist-Leninist interpretations of British imperialism, and in order to extend the analysis to the United States of America, the concepts of ideology, ruling elites, and neoliberalism are applied.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Employee Relations, 2013
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw upon empirical research in order to demonstrate... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw upon empirical research in order to demonstrate the ways in which trade unions have responded to the so-called current UK pension crisis.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses both theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, and empirical research in the form of interviews, to examine the contradictions between the rhetoric and reality of government policy towards, and trade union responses to, pension reform in the UK.
Findings – That trade unions have been constrained by: the fact that the labour party, which they support, has been in government but has increasingly become receptive to neoliberal economic policies; and by the broader discourse of pension reform, advanced by elites that are committed to neoliberal reforms to the British welfare state.
Research limitations/implications – The scope of the paper is large and thus certain issues regarding the pension crisis and ideology are not covered in as much detail as would be preferred.
Practical implications – The paper offers forward a unique critique regarding the current favoured pension policies and solutions.
Originality/value – This paper draws upon front-line theoretical contributions and combines them with the author's interviews with leading trade union general secretaries. As such, it is a unique insight into not only the current so-called “pensions crisis” but also the responses of trade unions, and the labour movement more broadly, to this constructed dilemma.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Current attacks on pensions can be seen as part of the neoliberal project to undermine welfare pr... more Current attacks on pensions can be seen as part of the neoliberal project to undermine welfare provision; but this paper argues that such attacks are nothing new. A historical comparison shows that many of the commonly held assumptions and arguments against pension provision are mistaken, and in some cases, highly misleading, with discourses or ideologies first touted in the 1940s being reused in the present period. This paper identifies those arguments that were misleading or false in the past, thus allowing us to see through them in their current forms.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Chapters in Books by Jo Grady
In many countries, the State Pension Age is rising. Governments often present this as a reflectio... more In many countries, the State Pension Age is rising. Governments often present this as a reflection of increasing life expectancy and the need to extend working lives beyond the traditional retirement age, with individuals choosing, and also being required by law, to work longer. Indeed, in the UK, the government has also stressed that the increase in life expectancy presents them with no alternative other than to increase labour market participation of older workers. As a result of this increase, the role of flexible working practices in providing a route for older workers with the ability to make choices regarding how long they choose to engage in work-related tasks has become important and is being widely discussed. These working practices have often been held up as a way to improve employment choices for older workers, or provide bridge jobs to ease older workers into retirement. Indeed, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have also identified this type of work as providing older workers with a choice where they may opt for a phased approach to retirement. This has led to the suggestion that retirement is no longer seen as a life-defining event where workers leave the labour market for the final time but, instead, as a reversible state. Moreover, research has demonstrated that ‘financial security’ is key in retirement planning, suggesting that whilst it may be a choice to work past retirement, it may represent compulsion for those who have worked in low-pay occupations where pension coverage is poor. This may well be the case—whilst we have seen increases in employment rates amongst the over-50s and over-60s, it is worth noting that this increase has been in full-time work, not part-time work. This suggests that people are simply staying in the labour market longer, rather than bridging their way into retirement or ‘un-retiring’ via the use of flexible working practices. Thus, we have a growing life expectancy that has encouraged government to pursue a policy of increasing labour market participation of older workers alongside decreasing access to occupational pension provision. Despite the importance placed on the role of flexibility by government and policy makers, research has revealed that, when interviewed, older workers expressed the desire to reject flexible work, much of which is characterised by low pay/skill and few prospects. Loretto and Vickerstaff have also demonstrated that amongst older and retired workers there is actually a feeling of ‘release’ that accompanies retirement, suggesting that individuals on the whole wish to be free from the labour market, and ‘get off the treadmill’ once they have ‘done their bit’. This research challenges the agenda of extending working lives, suggesting that many people are looking forward to ending paid employment where such a choice is possible.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
M. Tadajewski, L. Parsons, P. MacLaren, & M. Parker, (Eds.), Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies, 2011
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Book Reviews by Jo Grady
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Conference Presentations by Jo Grady
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Journal Articles by Jo Grady
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses both theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, and empirical research in the form of interviews, to examine the contradictions between the rhetoric and reality of government policy towards, and trade union responses to, pension reform in the UK.
Findings – That trade unions have been constrained by: the fact that the labour party, which they support, has been in government but has increasingly become receptive to neoliberal economic policies; and by the broader discourse of pension reform, advanced by elites that are committed to neoliberal reforms to the British welfare state.
Research limitations/implications – The scope of the paper is large and thus certain issues regarding the pension crisis and ideology are not covered in as much detail as would be preferred.
Practical implications – The paper offers forward a unique critique regarding the current favoured pension policies and solutions.
Originality/value – This paper draws upon front-line theoretical contributions and combines them with the author's interviews with leading trade union general secretaries. As such, it is a unique insight into not only the current so-called “pensions crisis” but also the responses of trade unions, and the labour movement more broadly, to this constructed dilemma.
Chapters in Books by Jo Grady
Book Reviews by Jo Grady
Conference Presentations by Jo Grady
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses both theoretical approaches to neoliberalism, and empirical research in the form of interviews, to examine the contradictions between the rhetoric and reality of government policy towards, and trade union responses to, pension reform in the UK.
Findings – That trade unions have been constrained by: the fact that the labour party, which they support, has been in government but has increasingly become receptive to neoliberal economic policies; and by the broader discourse of pension reform, advanced by elites that are committed to neoliberal reforms to the British welfare state.
Research limitations/implications – The scope of the paper is large and thus certain issues regarding the pension crisis and ideology are not covered in as much detail as would be preferred.
Practical implications – The paper offers forward a unique critique regarding the current favoured pension policies and solutions.
Originality/value – This paper draws upon front-line theoretical contributions and combines them with the author's interviews with leading trade union general secretaries. As such, it is a unique insight into not only the current so-called “pensions crisis” but also the responses of trade unions, and the labour movement more broadly, to this constructed dilemma.