Revisiting divisions of Labour The impacts and legacies of a modern sociological classic

This book explores the continuing significance of Ray Pahl's research into all forms of work that was conducted as British society was being transformed around 1980. His book Divisions of Labour quickly became a modern sociological classic because of what he said and how he said it. Excerpts from the original convey Pahl's skill in presenting new ideas about people's lives in an engaging style, while the new contributions set out the reasons for the original study's enduring appeal. The book will be of interest to readers who want to know how social scientists go about doing research that is methodologically robust, innovative, topical and relevant. It will appeal to both scholars and lay readers concerned to know more about how de-industrialization changed people's lives, and how capturing this change required ingenuity and resilience on the part of the researchers who studied a community in a time of great change.

Graham Crow is Professor of Sociology and Methodology at the University of Edinburgh

Jaimie Ellis is a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton