Table of Contents

1. Introduction Part 1: The Penetration of Commodification: A Critical Evaluation 2. The Commodification Thesis 3. Subsistence Work 4. Non-Monetised Exchange 5. Not-for-Profit Monetised Exchange Part 2: The Uneven Contours of Commodification 6. Socio-Economic Disparities 7. The Uneven Geographies of Commodification 8. Gender and Commodification 9. Beyond the Advanced Economies Part 3: Future Options and their Implications 10. Towards a Commodified World 11. Doing Nothing 12. Fostering Plural Economies Part 4: Beyond a Commodified World 13. Cultivating Work beyond the Commodity Economy 14. Conclusions

Promotional Information

Provides a critique of the assumption of increasing commodification in the modern economy.

About the Author

Colin C. Williams is Professor of Work Organisation at the University of Leicester. His recent books include Alternative Economic Spaces (Sage, 2003), Poverty and the Third Way (Routledge, 2003), Bridges into Work? (The Policy Press, Bristol, 2001) and Revitalising Deprived Urban Neighbourhoods (Ashgate, 2001)

Reviews

'This is a bold and engaging book that demonstrates the uneven progress of commodification across the so-called developed and developing worlds. Marshalling powerful evidence of the persistence of subsistence work, non-monetised and not-for-profit forms of exchange, Colin Williams challenges the "commodification thesis". Far from being a foregone conclusion, commodification is revealed as an incomplete and deeply contested process. "A Commodified World?" rejects the linear narrative of ever-deeper capitalist penetration, inviting readers to imagine and strive towards a future in which work is no longer defined in purely monetary terms.' - Peter Jackson, Professor of Human Geography, University of Sheffield