This collection presents an array of policy debates and implications emerging from virtual work. The authors cover a range of areas, including: conceptual debates, measuring virtual work; discourses and levels of policy intervention; the role of the sharing and collaborative economy; and resultant challenges for organized labour, law and regulation.

The authors of the chapters analyse the ways in which processes of digitalization leading to virtual work impact so many aspects of our lives: the way we buy, sell, network, communicate, participate, create, consume, and, of course, the way we work. In turn they focus on the subsequent implications for the future of work as well as the viability of existing social protection systems.

The developments examined here are salient for both policy stakeholders and for the academic community in areas such as labour sociology, industrial relations, gender studies, political economy, and economic geography.

"Wide-ranging, carefully researched, and scrupulously objective." (Vincent Mosco, Queen's University, Canada and Fudan University, China) "Exploring the opportunities and challenges that digitalization brings for working life, this book raises some of the key questions and provides some pragmatic guidance to key social actors, as they need to rethink their own roles and the rules under which they operate." (Juan Menendez-Valdes, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions) "This book contributes to an understanding of the processes leading to policy challenges and identifies new ways in which progress in policy formulation and regulation can be made." (Jan Drahokoupil, European Trade Union Institute)

About the Author

Pamela Meil is Senior Research Fellow and member of the board of governors at the Institute for Social Science Research, Germany.

Vassil Kirov is Associate Professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Associate Researcher at ETUI.

Reviews
"An extremely impressive, absorbing and highly readable and recommended collection of essays about contemporary and emerging work patterns. I certainly learned a great deal from the book, and I believe it will set the tone for different debates to come about the issues explored." (John Michael Roberts, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 56 (2), June, 2018)



Book Information
ISBN 9783319520568
Author Pamela Meil
Format Hardback
Page Count 301
Imprint Springer International Publishing AG
Publisher Springer International Publishing AG