Studying Work

In this section we present a set of resources to aid those interested in studying work. Provided is a listing of reading lists, research centers, and a variety of academic institutions that offer some speciality program that focus on the subject of work. We also have included a guideline that will aid students interested in studying the subject.

Reading Lists

Here is a small selection of reading lists that we have collected from various individuals.

Wayne Lewchuk a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada maintains a reading list for the University's Labour Studies Programme. It is one of the more extensive lists that we have come across. He has graciously given us permission to post his list.

Research Centers

Acedemic Institutions

Student Guideline

While the field of work has no specific faculty that covers the subject in its entirety, courses from different faculties can be pieced together to provide a fairly appropriate grounding in the subject matter. Students should look to the following as a guidleline.

Sociology: sociology of work, industrial sociology, sociology of occupations and professions,sociology of the labour process

Business Schools: human resources management, organizational behaviour, industrial relations

Economics: Labour market theory, labour economics, history of economic thought, social economics, comparative economic systems

History: Labour history, social history, economic history

Political Economy: Intro to Political Economy, History of Polictical Economy Thought

Math: sampling methods, into to Statictics, advanced statistcial methods including cluster analysis, factor analysis, dscriminant, and regression analysis.

If you are lucky a particular institution may have an interdisciplinary studies faculty. Typically you can piece together enough courses offered within the relevant faculties and come up with a course pattern that would lead to a interdisciplinary degree.