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‘Going Underground’: A Tube Worker’s Experience of Struggles over the Frontier of Control

Author

Listed:
  • Emma S Hughes

    (Bangor University, UK)

  • Tony Dobbins

    (Bangor University, UK; University of Birmingham, UK)

  • Stephen Murphy

    (London Underground, UK)

Abstract

Mainstream media representation of London Underground (LU) workers typically foregrounds their alleged militancy, greed and negligence towards the travelling public. This knee-jerk tendency obscures the voices, expressions and experiences of workers themselves. This article enriches public sociology by giving Stephen, a Tube driver and former LU station worker, a platform to share his vivid story. Stephen’s voice reveals deep sociological insights into the realities of workplace struggles over the shifting ‘frontier of control’ at LU, and graphically captures uneven and fluid patterns of individual/collective resistance to restructuring and ‘modernization’. His lived experiences of managerial control and worker autonomy, interfacing with different degrees of alienation, new technology and customer engagement, have changed over time as ‘passengers’ become ‘customers’ and ‘give and take’ employment relations dwindle.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma S Hughes & Tony Dobbins & Stephen Murphy, 2019. "‘Going Underground’: A Tube Worker’s Experience of Struggles over the Frontier of Control," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(1), pages 174-183, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:1:p:174-183
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017018758215
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Thompson & Diane van den Broek, 2010. "Managerial control and workplace regimes: an introduction," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1-12, September.
    2. Knut Laaser, 2016. "‘If you are having a go at me, I am going to have a go at you’: the changing nature of social relationships of bank work under performance management," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(6), pages 1000-1016, December.
    3. Tony Dundon & Tony Dobbins, 2015. "Militant partnership: a radical pluralist analysis of workforce dialectics," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 29(6), pages 912-931, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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