Book Reviews

Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labour Markets in Silicon Valley By Chris Benner Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2002. ISBN 0-631-23249-4.

Over the past decade volumes have been written on the contemporary city and its multiple, intersecting dimensions, amongst others, race, class, ethnicity, gender sexuality and immigrant status. The cultural turn in the social sciences, enabling many of these investigations, aimed to move beyond our earlier preoccupations with the economy (including labour markets) and led to an intensive focus on the many processes producing social differentiation and urban heterogeneity. Whereas these investigations have resulted in an extraordinary array of interpretations that assist in understanding the vast changes prevailing in society, it has often presented us with fragmented views with little that draws these different strands of thought together. Whereas much is made of how changes in consumption is (re)structuring and (re)producing space, far less is said nowadays about the systems of production which might link past interpretations of cities and re- gions to present trends in social science analyses. Moreover, concerns sur- rounding labour markets (also) contribute to issues of urban fragmentation, and the development of edge/fractal/carceral cities and the so-called emerging postmetropolis, has not been at the centre of recent academic reflection. Particu- larly in urban geography and planning studies, we are often told about how flex- ible production systems and labour markets, often explained from very narrowly defined case study foci, change the geographies, but without having any real in- sight into what flexible labour markets actually mean. Thus, often we study changes in urban spatialities, without understanding the production and labour market sys- tems underpinning many of the changes. In this respect Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labour Markets in Silicon Valley, part of Blackwell's Information Age Series, fulfils an important void in understanding changes in the economy and its labour market.

The investigation develops from the central premise that decisive structural trans- formation in the economy and society effects work and employment in fundamen- tal ways. It is a study of labour markets, set in the dynamic realities of the Silicon Valley, a region know globally as a centre of innovation and diffusion in informa-

Urban Forum, Vol. 15, No. I, January-March 2004.

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tion technology industries. Benner argues that there are two important reasons why this spatial context is important for examining trends in work. Firstly, its very origin as an industrial region lies in information technology industries which have developed primarily in the last half-century. It is suggested that the relative new- ness of Silicon Valley's industrial structure and the dominance of these industries in the regional economy make especially visible patterns of work that are associ- ated with the rise of information technology. Secondly, in this region new products and process innovations are adopted rapidly, allowing these industries to develop innovative management and human resources practices, which in turn then often diffuse onto world markets and into other industries. This exploration of under- standing work in the information age is analysed through three interrelated issues: labour market flexibility (Part One); labour market intermediaries (Part Two); and careers in the information economy (Part Three).

Part One, consists of two chapters and examines labour market flexibility. Chapter One elaborates on a theoretical framework for analysing flexibility in work and employment. This is an innovative chapter for it provides a different way of analysing this issue. In contrast to recent literature on labour market flexibility that makes a distinction between internal or functional flexibility and external or numerical flex- ibility, using the firm as the basic unit of analysis, Benner argues that this results in a core-periphery perspective that misses important aspects of how labour markets are changing. Instead, Benner is of the opinion that much of the confusion and conflict around the issues of labour market flexibility arises from the failure to make a distinction between flexible work and flexible employment. It is argued that "work" refers to the actual activities workers perform, the skills, information, and knowledge required to perform those activities, and the social interactions involved in the process of performing that work. "Employment", on the other hand, refers to the contractual relationship between employer and employee, in- cluding compensation systems and management practices. Clearly both work and employment have been changing in important ways but the forces leading to those changes, along with their implications for both workers and employers in the re- gional labour market, are significantly different. Chapter Two provides empirical evidence of the rise of flexible work and employment patterns in Silicon Valley in the 1990s. It documents the rise of various forms of non-standard employment, while also exploring the ways that work patterns and employment relationships in "standard" employment have changed dramatically as well, becoming more tenu- ous and temporary. It discusses the links between these flexible labour markets and the character of competition in the region's high-tech industries, tracing changes in the major industries in the Valley, including internet/software, hardware, semicon- ductors, and the defence industry.

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Part Two examines the increasingly important role of labour market intermedi- aries in shaping the structure and dynamics of work and employment in Silicon Valley. This objective is explored through four chapters. Firstly, Chapter Three provides a conceptual framework for analysing these intermediaries. It is argued that intermediaries perform four essential functions in the labour market for both workers and employers: reducing transaction costs, shaping compensation levels, mediating risk, and building networks. The next three chapters analyse three broad types of intermediaries in the Silicon Valley labour market: Private sector interme- diaries (Chapter Four), Membership-based intermediaries (Chapter Five) and Pub- lic Sector intermediaries (Chapter Six).

Part Three then turns to an examination of the implications of this flexibility and intermediation for the careers of workers in the region. This is achieved in two chapters. Chapter Seven, provides and empirical examination of the implications of the structure of Silicon Valley's labour markets for the livelihoods of workers in the region. It acknowledges the critical importance of these new labour arrange- ments for economic development and innovative growth in the region, and sug- gests that for many workers in the regional labour market these flexible labour relations provide dynamic opportunities for learning and pursuing highly remu- nerative careers. However, the chapter also emphasises the significant underside of this flexibility, documenting growing inequality and insecurity in the regional labour market in the 1990s and showing the potentially disruptive consequences for workers. Chapter Eight, explores the implications of this flexibility and the activities of intermediaries for efforts to improve labour market outcomes for workers. It suggests a need for a series of conceptual changes in the focus of labour market policy: focusing on industry and occupational clusters, rather than firms; on learn- ing, rather than training; on communities and social networks, rather than indi- viduals; and on careers, rather than jobs. A further argument in the chapter is that the increasing importance of labour market intermediaries creates opportunities for public policy intervention. In conclusion this chapter explores the policy implica- tions of the distinction between flexible work and employment. In contrast to many analysts, who characterise flexibility as the growing "individualisation" of work, Benner argues that what we are witnessing instead is the growing individualisation of employment, alongside an increasing socialisation of work. This disconnection between the nature of work and the nature of employment contributes significantly to the insecurity that many workers face in the information economy. Overall the information economy is highly dynamic and capable of producing high levels of economic growth and opportunity, yet many workers are excluded from the ben- efits of the information economy by their individualised employment relationships. The challenge, it is argued, is to develop compensation systems that recognise the

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increasing socialisation of work in the information economy while also helping to minimise insecurity by cushioning the effects of the inevitable ups and downs of the information economy.

My only criticism of the book is that, whilst providing detailed investigations on how intermediaries experience and manage the flexibility of the information economy of Silicon Valley, little is heard form the actual workers themselves. Whereas such an investigation is probably the subject of book on its own, one cannot help feeling that their experiences of this working environment is ultimately what one craves. How do they feel about this labour market reality, how do they cope with their situation, how would they like it different, etc. These are questions that remain unanswered.

In conclusion, however, it has to be said that this is an excellent study, clearly written and a fine example of rigorous research drawing on vast amounts of data and using an array of social science research techniques to help policymakers, activists and scholars understand the future of work and workers in the new economy. This book comes highly recommended.

Gustav ¥isser Department of Geography

University of the Free State

Urban Movements in a Globalising World By P. Hamel, H. Lustiger-Thaler, and M. Mayer, eds. London: Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-415-24425-0, 221 pp.

The departure point of this edited collection is that urban social movements have traditionally been seen as preoccupied with local issues and as a result have been marginalised in the wider study of social movements. This book convinc- ingly challenges this view. It is suggested that as cities become increasingly impor- tant sites within the global economy, urban movements exert 'extralocal' responses, assuming a key role in shaping trajectories, discourses and practices not only of urban regimes in specific localities but also in the form and character of global processes themselves.

The book is grouped into three thematic sections. Following a well-written and carefully developed introduction, Part One, 'Urban social movements: global im- pacts and the new urban citizenship' comprises three chapters that examine the new repertoire of collective action in different urban settings. Considering the is- sue of citizenship and its necessary redefinition due to the urban and economic

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restructuring of the past twenty years in Western societies, these essays examine the re-composition of movement milieus as well as the specific contribution of new forms of collective action. Chapter One introduces themes and questions con- cerning new social movements. Examining the composition and focus of new social movements it is argued that we need to revise our understanding of these movements by revisiting the social concerns they actually portrayed in comparison to cultural or post-materialist values of the present. In this regard it is suggested that the new social movements articulate poor peoples concerns and protests, and the different exclusions they experience. Chapter Two focuses on the shifting territo- ries of exclusion experienced in the urban ghetto by considering the spatialisation of exclusionary practices within which community building actually occurs. Chapter Three takes this illustration forward in the concrete context of French social and political changes since the 1970s.

Part Two, 'The urban economy in global context' introduces a further level of analysis, and is concerned with the economic impacts of globalisation on social life and how urban movements have tried to cope with these. Chapter Four opens the discussion with an excellent piece on globalisation and the entrepreneurial city. The chapter presents globalisation as a chaotic concept. A distinction is made be- tween the 'structural' and 'strategic' dimensions of globalisation, underlining the linkages of economic globalisation to social and spatial dimensions, as well as the difficulties faced by the 'Keynesian welfare national state' and the redefinition of its role in relation to capital accumulation and social reproduction. In this context globalisation is associated with the rise of 'entrepreneurial cities' and their capaci- ties to engage in a new way of competition. This chapter forms an appropriate prelude to the more empirical Chapters Five and Six that explore multiple forms of resistance or alternatives to neo-liberalism taking pace on the terrain of civil soci- ety in Quebec and Montreal.

Part Three 'Urban social movements and the global future' proposes an assess- ment of tendencies and new opportunities afforded movement actors by the trans- formation of social and economic structures brought about by globalisation processes. Chapter Seven focuses on major cities, and highlights three recent trends in local politics that had an important impact on urban movements: (1) the new competitive forms of urban development; (2) the erosion of traditional welfare rights; and (3) the expansion of the urban political system. The chapter examines the forms and content of protest and collaboration movements developed in con- nection with the current trends in local politics. Chapter Eight gives attention to the issue of local democracy and social justice, examining how urban movements challenge traditional forms of local politics by contributing, among other things, to institutional innovations. Their action also bring us to a better understanding of

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social inequalities and social exclusion, even though movement actors do not nec- essarily share the same vision of the city and of social change. The last two chap- ters pursue an analysis of movement politics with reference to Eastern Europe.

The book is centred on European and North American experiences, despite its focus on global, generic theories and practices. For the South African reader the question does arise whether urban movements in less developed countries have the same dilemmas, possibilities and opportunities for influence and action. Given the title of this collection, it might have been expected that there would be at least some contributions focusing on the South. The omission of a multitude urban movements in emerging regions that have with some success reached into the all pervasive 'global economy', would have strengthened this work substantially and justified the title. Such consideration would also have highlighted that urban move- ments in a globalising world have little consensus in what they agitate against in this new global order--a point that is ultimately weakly communicated in this text. Finally--whereas this collection is introduced impressively, the editors could have provided some form of reflective closing chapter, as this collection comes to a somewhat abrupt conclusion.

On the whole this book comes highly recommended. Whilst this thought-pro- voking and challenging text is clearly written, its presentation is not wholly acces- sible to those unfamiliar with the subject or the writing style. Consequently, I recommend the collection to academics and postgraduate students of urban geog- raphy, public and development management, as well as urban sociology.

Gustav Visser Department of Geography

University of the Free State