Part 1: Conceptualizing work.

Confronting the challenges of work today: New horizons and perspectives (Jane Parry, Rebecca Taylor, Lynne Pettinger and Miriam Glucksmann).

Shifting boundaries and interconnections: extending the ‘total social organisation of labour’ (Miriam Glucksmann).

Part 2: Re-examining paid employment.

Friends, relations and colleagues: The blurred boundaries of the workplace (Lynne Pettinger).

Interaction distance and the social meaning of occupations (Wendy Bottero).

Changing Times; Flexibilization and the re-organization of work in feminized labour markets (Angela Coyle).

Part 3: Privatized work.

Time and labour: Fathers’ perceptions of employment and childcare (Esther Dermott).

Doing the dirty work of social class? Mothers’ work in support of their children’s schooling (Diane Reay).

Part 4: Challenging the boundaries of the public and private spheres.

Rethinking voluntary work (Rebecca F. Taylor).

Markets and politics: public and private relations in the case of prostitution (Jackie West and Terry Austrin).

Care in the Community? Gender and the reconfiguration of community work in a post-mining neighbourhood (Jane Parry).

Part 5: International comparisons.

Public and private: Implications for care work (Pat Armstrong and Hugh Armstrong).

Care, work and feeling (Clare Ungerson).

Welfare State regimes and the social organization of labour: Childcare arrangements and the work/family balance dilemma (Margarita León).

Bibliography.

Notes on Contributors.

Index.