Human Relatoins
Forthcoming special issues
"Workers, risk and the new economy"
The editors of Human Relations intend to publish a special issue of the journal on the subject of Workers, risk and the new economy.

Guest editors: Paul Edwards (Warwick Business School), Monder Ram (De Montfort University), Vicki Smith (University of California, Davis)

Much has been written about the ‘risk society’, which can embrace anything from existential angst to the dangers of new technology. Less attention has been paid to the concrete meaning of risk in specific circumstances. This special issue places the experience of work at centre stage. Its focus is the nature of risk as it is faced by workers in the workplace, embracing the sources of risk, how it is experienced, and how it can be moderated or even deployed constructively. In relation to the moderation of risk, what are the roles of workers, trade unions, labour market intermediaries and regulatory bodies in negotiating risk? Is risk now simply taken for granted, and if so is this a universal tendency or one limited to certain occupations and contexts? We particularly wish to encourage studies of workers at the bottom end of the labour market, for risk affects them in very stark ways; we include here the insecure work force such as migrant and illegal workers and temporary and agency staff.

Potential topics include the following:

Low-wage workers and economic insecurity.
Migrant workers, insecurity and the management and negotiation of risk (for example through family or communal resources).
Gendered and racialized experiences of risk.
Dangerous technologies and the negotiation of risk.
Risk and opportunity: under what circumstances can taking a risk bring benefits, and what kinds of workers are most likely to reap the rewards?
Changes over time: is ‘risk’ as new as is sometimes supposed, and what can a historical perspective say; is it the fact of risk that is new, or does risk take on new forms?
The role of institutions in regulating risk. This embraces international comparative studies of national regulatory regimes, as well as the role of trade unions and other representative bodies.
All methodological approaches, including ethnographies, case studies and quantitative analyses, are equally welcome. Papers must, however, identify and explain a phenomenon. That is, it will not be sufficient to show that risk exists. Papers will ideally address the antecedents, nature, and consequences of an aspect of risk. They should also address in what respects, if all, risk is new in its extent or its nature.

This call is open and competitive, and the submitted papers will be blind reviewed in the normal way.
Submitted papers must be based on original material not under consideration by any other journal or outlet.
The Editors will select five papers to be included in the special issue, but other papers submitted in this process may be published in other issues of the journal.
The deadline for submissions is 13 July 2007. Authors will be notified by the end of August if their papers have not been accepted for review. The special issue is intended for publication in mid- 2008.

Papers to be considered for this special issue should be submitted online via www.humanrelationsjournal.org. Please direct questions about the submission process, or any administrative matter, to Alice Gilbertson.

The editors of the special issue are very happy to discuss initial ideas for papers, and can be contacted directly:

Paul Edwards
P.K.Edwards @ Warwick.ac.uk

Monder Ram
MRam @ dmu.ac.uk

Vicky Smith
vasmith @ ucdavis.edu