Book review: Managing The Margins

The following is a brief review of the book:

Managing The Margins

Gender, Citizenship, and the International Regulation of Precarious Employment

Author: Leah F. Vosko

Publisher: Oxford University Press

The book offers a comprehensive account of the different types of precarious work on the margin of regulated labor relations and the attempts to regulate them. The phenomenon of precarious work is evident in the work market today, the book of Vosko traces back the phenomenon and puts it in its historical context. Suddenly the unfair treatment of “margins” is rooted back to the historical inequalities inherited in the western legal and political system and the industrialized world. 

The book then studies the neoliberal era and the later attempts for inclusions at a country level as well as at the international and regional levels (ILO and EU). It shows the limitations and the different issues associated, the various and new types of inequalities or new margins. It concludes by exploring some of the approaches and ideas that go beyond the common understanding of work relations and challenges the concept of linking employment to social protection.

The author does a great job in describing how the historical industrialized world definition of standard employment relations as the norm led to anything falling outside the norm to be considered “on the margin”, hence excluded in one way or another. The book demonstrates that despite the realization of the limited inclusion of the standard employment relations model and the attempt to address the exclusions at a later stage, the “norm” was not totally abandoned but rather attempts to expand its reach through addressing its particular limitations became common. The author studies those attempts by divergence type and analyzes their effectiveness. Since those attempts to regulate the margins use the “norm” as their starting point, margins (divergence) will always exists.

The final chapter of the book includes different examples that challenge the norm and the common understanding of regulations. It provides brain stimulating ideas and approaches that shift the focus from the employment relations to address the inequalities.

Throughout the book, Vosko emphasizes the gender dimension in work and highlights how the historical distinction of breadwinner and caregiver gave rise to inequalities and then how the neglect of reproduction while focusing on equality and non-discrimination kept women often at the margin of work regulations.  

The depth of research and the historical account is rich and very well constructed. The examples and evidence accompanying the analysis bring the book to life. The author did a great job combining theory, analysis, facts and history and offering an up to date account of the subject. The flow of the ideas along the historical context as well as the detailed analysis of the phenomena discussed and the author’s knowledge in that field makes the book an invaluable read for anyone interested in the topic.

This review is based on the paperback edition 2011