Publisher's Synopsis
Whether work is essential or not has been an important question in public and academic debate during periods of societal disruption or crisis, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Diving deep into the dialectics of essential work, this volume of Research in the Sociology of Work presents original research that explores notions of essentiality and highlights the experiences of essential workers during the pandemic. Demonstrating a persistent struggle for recognition and dignity, as well as for revaluing and materially rewarding essential work, contributors examine the emotional labour involved in gendered care work, the impact of COVID-19 on residential care work, the politics of essentiality and the intersectional perspectives of essential workers in the United States. The final chapters act as the first of a new recurring section spotlighting ethnography. Raising pressing questions about the essence of work and its place in contemporary society, Essentiality of Work inspires new debates about the centrality of the work experience in modern life for those working as well as those who benefit from that work.
