Many thanks to Jamie Woodcock for agreeing to visit Ruskin to discuss his new book, Working the Phones.
One review helpfully states:
Crikey, talk about “the classical Marxist notion of alienation”. Which is exactly what Jamie Woodcock does in this grim account of the modern-day “chain worker”, goaded to keep pitching to the terminally ill, the weeping bereaved parent, the trade union official who replies by asking about the cold-caller’s union status and, as both quickly switch to code, wishes him luck. The author, a London School of Economics researcher, knows not only his theory but his subject inside out: he researched it by taking a job in the bleak heart of computerised Taylorism. There’s casualisation, cruelty and regimentation, but also subversion, and Woodcock’s focus on employee resistance offers a flicker of hope.
Other reviews are here, and a YouTube clip of Jamie at a book launch event. I'll try and write a comment on the event at Ruskin with Jamie.
http://www.jamiewoodcock.net/reviews-of-working-the-phones/
In Solidarity
Ian
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