Journal articles
Honeybun-Arnolda E, Turner RA, Mukhopadhyay R, Collins C, Wills J (2024). Localising and democratising goal-based governance for sustainability. Environmental Science & Policy, 151, 103638-103638.
Wills J (2023). Bridging the gaps between. <i>demos</i>. and. <i>kratos</i>. : broad-based community organising and political institutional infrastructure in London, UK. City, 27(5-6), 890-904.
Turner RA, Wills J (2022). Downscaling doughnut economics for sustainability governance.
Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,
56Abstract:
Downscaling doughnut economics for sustainability governance
The concept of ‘doughnut economics’ is attracting growing attention from policy-makers and has the potential to unify stakeholders around a holistic vision of sustainable development. The ‘safe and just’ space within the doughnut is framed at a global scale, based on human needs that represent a foundation for social wellbeing, and planetary boundaries reflecting biophysical limits. However, the geographical division of political power between and within nations means that its ability to stimulate change will depend upon its application at national and subnational scales. This paper examines the challenges facing local institutions in downscaling doughnut economics for planning, decision-making and leadership; draws on wider literature from previous efforts to localise sustainability governance to help illuminate these challenges; and outlines a future research agenda to support local governance for a safe and just space.
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Collins C, Shaw RF, Wills J (2022). Using place-based public engagement to improve social and environmental sustainability: Lessons from partnership working in Cornwall, UK.
Current Research in Environmental Sustainability,
4Abstract:
Using place-based public engagement to improve social and environmental sustainability: Lessons from partnership working in Cornwall, UK
Public engagement with research and innovation is often inversely related to socio-economic status, with significant implications for realising positive solutions to pressing concerns, such as the biodiversity and climate crises. This paper reports on the use of place-based public workshops focusing on co-design of urban green spaces to understand: the extent to which public workshops can engage local people in relatively poor locations; the degree to which working with self-organised groups or newly-engaged publics impacts levels of engagement and outcomes; and how universities can play a role in developing locally relevant practical solutions to transdisciplinary issues such as the climate and biodiversity crises. We report on an action research project that involved facilitated co-design workshops in three towns in Cornwall, UK. The research methods included a survey of participants and follow up interviews with key stakeholders. We found that the workshops were successful in engaging local people, including those with less interest in the environment. Independent follow-on activities from aligned self-organised groups were greater than for newly engaged publics but this was partly dependent on the knowledge and skills of those involved. The role of the university as a neutral partner, in providing expertise and seed funding, was seen to be positive, with short-term timescales, communication and the ability to retain longer term involvement reported as hindrances to successful collaboration.
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Clements J, Lobley M, Osborne J, Wills J (2021). How can academic research on UK agri-environment schemes pivot to meet the addition of climate mitigation aims?. Land Use Policy, 106, 105441-105441.
Chateau Z, Devine-Wright P, Wills J (2021). Integrating sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries in researching energy futures.
Energy Research and Social Science,
80Abstract:
Integrating sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries in researching energy futures
In this Perspective we argue that how we imagine energy futures is inevitably entwined with how we envision our collective social and geographical futures. Spatiality is both constituted by and constitutive of sociotechnical imaginaries (STIs), as they encode specific imaginations of socio-spatial order. Going beyond recognising spatial differences, we formalise an assertively spatial perspective on STIs by drawing on the concept of spatial imaginaries. We show how holding that STIs and spatial imaginaries are co-produced is a productive way of conceptualising the spatial dimensions of STIs. Drawing on three types of spatial imaginary (place imaginaries, idealised spaces and spatial transformations imaginaries), we delineate two main lines of inquiry. First, we elaborate the spatialities underpinning energy transition imaginaries, identifying ways that each particular type of spatial imaginary, both separately and interconnectedly, shape energy transitions. Second, we address the politics of space and scale involved in the circulation and uptake of energy transition imaginaries, which is shaped by existing power relations, socio-spatial inequalities and the differentiated material and symbolic resources available to actors. We argue that this agenda contributes to richer understandings of how energy transitions unfold and offers further insights into how spatial concepts are actively mobilised within processes of social change.
Abstract.
Kinsley S, Layton J, Davis J, Wills J, Featherstone D, Temenos C, Barnett C (2020). Reading Clive Barnett's the Priority of Injustice. Political Geography, 78, 102065-102065.
Greenhough B, Read CJ, Lorimer J, Lezaun J, McLeod C, Benezra A, Bloomfield S, Brown T, Clinch M, D’Acquisto F, et al (2020). Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome.
Palgrave Communications,
6(1).
Abstract:
Setting the agenda for social science research on the human microbiome
The human microbiome is an important emergent area of cross, multi and transdisciplinary study. The complexity of this topic leads to conflicting narratives and regulatory challenges. It raises questions about the benefits of its commercialisation and drives debates about alternative models for engaging with its publics, patients and other potential beneficiaries. The social sciences and the humanities have begun to explore the microbiome as an object of empirical study and as an opportunity for theoretical innovation. They can play an important role in facilitating the development of research that is socially relevant, that incorporates cultural norms and expectations around microbes and that investigates how social and biological lives intersect. This is a propitious moment to establish lines of collaboration in the study of the microbiome that incorporate the concerns and capabilities of the social sciences and the humanities together with those of the natural sciences and relevant stakeholders outside academia. This paper presents an agenda for the engagement of the social sciences with microbiome research and its implications for public policy and social change. Our methods were informed by existing multidisciplinary science-policy agenda-setting exercises. We recruited 36 academics and stakeholders and asked them to produce a list of important questions about the microbiome that were in need of further social science research. We refined this initial list into an agenda of 32 questions and organised them into eight themes that both complement and extend existing research trajectories. This agenda was further developed through a structured workshop where 21 of our participants refined the agenda and reflected on the challenges and the limitations of the exercise itself. The agenda identifies the need for research that addresses the implications of the human microbiome for human health, public health, public and private sector research and notions of self and identity. It also suggests new lines of research sensitive to the complexity and heterogeneity of human–microbiome relations, and how these intersect with questions of environmental governance, social and spatial inequality and public engagement with science.
Abstract.
Wills J (2020). The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom.
Transactions of the Institute of British GeographersAbstract:
The geo-constitution and responses to austerity: Institutional entrepreneurship, switching, and re-scaling in the United Kingdom
© 2020 the Authors. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers published by John Wiley. &. Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) a nation's geo-constitution – its spatially uneven political institutions – plays a critical role in mediating change. This paper explores this in relation to local government responses to austerity. The paper presents original research collected in Cornwall, United Kingdom, to highlight the scale and impact of asset transfers to town and parish councils. This degree of institutional switching was possible because of a willingness to use legacy constitutional institutions to mediate the trajectory and impact of reform in response to austerity. Town and parish councils have taken on important assets (public toilets, parks, and libraries) and raised local taxation to pay for them. This has reconfigured relationships between local government institutions while also incentivising innovation in service organisation. The research highlights the role of political institutions and their personnel in mediating responses to austerity, as well as raising broader questions about the rescaling of the social contract, and the scope for further constitutional reform.
Abstract.
Wills J (2019). The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions.
Progress in Human Geography,
43(3), 416-435.
Abstract:
The geo-constitution: Understanding the intersection of geography and political institutions
This paper draws on existing work in the discipline of human geography and cognate fields in order to develop the concept of the ‘geo-constitution’. This concept aims to: (1) highlight the importance of intersections between geography and political institutions in the constitution of government; (2) consider the path-dependent development of political institutions and their impact on statecraft and citizenship; (3) explore the implications of this for political reform. The paper provides an overview of current thinking in political geography and applies the concept of the geo-constitution to the example of devolution and localism in the United Kingdom.
Abstract.
Wills J, Scott J (2017). The geography of the political party: Lessons from the British Labour Party’s experiment with community organising, 2010 to 2015. Political Geography, 60, 121-131.
Wills J (2016). (Re)Locating community in relationships: questions for public policy. Sociological Review, 64, 639-656.
Wills J (2016). Book Review: Global political economy: Contemporary theories. Progress in Human Geography, 26(5), 703-704.
Wills J (2016). Book Review: Globalization and labour: the great new transformation. Progress in Human Geography, 27(2), 244-245.
Wills J (2016). Book Review: the political economy of New Labour: labouring under false pretences?. Progress in Human Geography, 25(4), 677-678.
Wills J, Simms M (2016). Building reciprocal community unionism in the UK.
Capital & Class,
28(1), 59-84.
Abstract:
Building reciprocal community unionism in the UK
British trade union renewal has focused on the twin strategies of organising and partnership. Drawing on experience from North America, and fledgling developments in Britain, this paper argues that reciprocal community unionism could provide another weapon in the union movement's armoury for reversing decline. The paper provides a brief historical overview of the intersection between unions and community in Britain before addressing reciprocal community unionism in more detail. The final part of the paper then looks at the work of Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council's Organising Centre in South West London during 2000 and 2001. The case study highlights the ways in which trade unionism can develop when focused on a particular locality, and the advantages of having extra-workplace organisation in any place. The case also illustrates some of the barriers preventing this model of trade unionism being translated to other boroughs, towns and cities in the UK. In the conclusion, the paper then calls for further experimentation in the development of reciprocal community unionism.
Abstract.
Harney L, McCurry J, Scott J, Wills J (2016). Developing ‘process pragmatism’ to underpin engaged research in human geography.
Progress in Human Geography,
40(3), 316-333.
Abstract:
Developing ‘process pragmatism’ to underpin engaged research in human geography
This paper explores the contribution that pragmatist philosophy can make to the way that we do research and teaching in human geography. It provides a historical overview of the key ideas in the tradition, their influence on the Chicago School of Sociology and community organizing, and the implications of this work for epistemological practice. The paper then looks at the variety of ways in which human geographers are using research as a means to engage in the world today, focusing in particular on the contributions of participatory action research (PAR), before making the case for ‘process pragmatism’ as a framework for doing this kind of research. To illustrate the potential of this approach, the paper outlines current research, teaching and organizing activity being undertaken by geographers at Queen Mary University of London. The paper suggests that pragmatism provides a theoretical and methodological foundation for research and teaching which can facilitate the creation of new publics, and can help to build power and democratic capacity with the aim of remaking the world.
Abstract.
Wills J (2016). Emerging geographies of English localism: the case of neighbourhood planning. Political Geography, 53, 43-53.
Wills J, Lincoln A (2016). Filling the Vacuum in New Management Practice? Lessons from US Employee-Owned Firms.
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space,
31(8), 1497-1512.
Abstract:
Filling the Vacuum in New Management Practice? Lessons from US Employee-Owned Firms
in this paper we explore the way in which Anglo-American capitalism is evolving to meet the competitive challenges of a global economy. A wide range of scholars, policymakers, and business leaders now argue that the post-Fordist economy requires greater levels of employee involvement, participation, and empowerment, and a new set of management practices have been developed to secure this new culture of work. In this paper we explore these developments and point to the different ways in which terms such as involvement, empowerment, participation, and partnership can be mobilised in the workplace. Moreover, research suggests that new management practices and cultures of work have evolved in different ways across space, crafting an uneven geography of new management practice. In this regard, we look at the ways in which some employee-owned firms in Ohio, America, have been the arena for considerable managerial experiment in fostering employee participation. Although we acknowledge the limitations of employee ownership, empirical material from two majority employee-owned firms illustrates the way in which employees have been able to take a greater role in the business. Employee ownership is much further advanced in the United States than the United Kingdom, and there is scope for building on US experiences in the United Kingdom.
Abstract.
Wills J (2016). Great Expectations: Three Years in the Life of a European Works Council.
European Journal of Industrial Relations,
6(1), 85-107.
Abstract:
Great Expectations: Three Years in the Life of a European Works Council
This article draws on one detailed case study of a European Works Council (EWC) to highlight the experiences of employees involved in these new institutions. The UK employee representatives at the case study firm have become increasingly frustrated, complaining about inadequate consultation, the poor organization and coordination of the employee representatives and the weakness and isolation of the EWC. The implications of these employee concerns are explored in the context of the changing political economic landscape of Europe. The article speculates whether EWCs can ever become useful tools for workers facing the challenges of Europeanization and globalization.
Abstract.
Wills J (2016). Political economy I: global crisis, learning and labour. Progress in Human Geography, 23(3), 443-451.
Wills J (2016). Political economy II: the politics and geography of capitalism. Progress in Human Geography, 24(4), 641-652.
Linneker B, Wills J (2016). The London living wage and in-work poverty reduction: Impacts on employers and workers.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
34(5), 759-776.
Abstract:
The London living wage and in-work poverty reduction: Impacts on employers and workers
In the UK, a campaign for the living wage has emerged as a civil society initiative to reduce in-work poverty. This article reports empirical evidence from a study of employers adopting the London Living Wage and the benefits from this intervention, as reported by their workers. Implementation strategies to cover higher wage costs varied, from clients meeting full costs, to reduced employer profit, to reductions in hours and employment. There were strong substitution effects from low to higher qualified workers. The evidence suggests that while there were worker benefits from the living wage, they were not automatic, as higher wage rates did not necessarily translate into higher incomes due to variations in hours of work. Workers reported more in-work benefits, than family or financial benefits. In-work poverty reduction was limited by large concentrations of part-time living wage jobs with few hours, small income increases and the rising costs of living.
Abstract.
Wills J (2015). Populism, localism and the geography of democracy. Geoforum, 62, 188-189.
Flint E, Cummins S, Wills J (2013). Investigating the effect of the London living wage on the psychological wellbeing of low-wage service sector employees: a feasibility study. Journal of Public Health, 36(2), 187-193.
Wills J, Linneker B (2013). In‐work poverty and the living wage in the United Kingdom: a geographical perspective.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
39(2), 182-194.
Abstract:
In‐work poverty and the living wage in the United Kingdom: a geographical perspective
Drawing on new empirical data from the UK, this paper takes a geographical perspective on the living wage. It highlights the extent to which the living wage is a geographical intervention to tackle in‐work poverty that reflects the cost of living and social reproduction in a particular geographical area, aiming to set a new minimum across the labour market. The paper further argues that there is a scalar geography to understanding the impact of the campaign and the arguments made to defend it. Whereas the living wage has major cost implications for the particular employers and clients affected – increasing wages by approximately 30 per cent above the national minimum wage – it also has the potential to reduce costs across the wider society. There is thus a scalar dimension to making the argument for a living wage that can help to inform the future direction of the campaign. The paper concludes by raising some wider questions about the contribution that geographers can make to the study and alleviation of poverty.
Abstract.
Wills J (2013). London’s Olympics in 2012: the good, the bad and an organising opportunity. Political Geography, 34, A1-A3.
Datta K, Cathy McIlwaine, May J, Wills J (2012). Migrants and migration: Academic research in the UK. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 20(1), 103-105.
Wills J (2012). The geography of community and political organisation in London today.
Political Geography,
31(2), 114-126.
Abstract:
The geography of community and political organisation in London today
Set in the context of growing concern about the lack of a coherent political response to the economic crisis, and in the aftermath of devastating urban violence in English cities, this paper highlights the pressing need for new forms of political organisation in countries like the UK. The paper focuses on the remarkable growth and prominence of community organising in the UK. The largest community alliance, called London Citizens, now commands significant support and influence in the capital and is attracting attention from politicians, journalists and commentators from across the UK. The rising profile of community organising flies in the face of much scholarship in the social sciences which has long declared the death of geographical community - and its socio-political significance - in the modern metropolis. The paper provides an overview of this literature and highlights the particular importance of population turnover, increased diversity and stretched social networks. In this context, the paper then explores how London Citizens has been able to use a particular geographical architecture to work with and against these challenges. The paper argues that London Citizens' territorial but institutionally networked structure is particularly important to its growth and impact. This model of politics locates institutional islands of social solidarity and forges connections between them, creating a new community that is able to mitigate some of the effects of population turnover and stretched social networks in the city-at-large. The paper highlights the strengths and weaknesses of this geo-political architecture, drawing attention to the importance of institutional affiliation, identity-making, the reproduction of collective memory, and the issue of funding. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract.
Datta K, McLlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, Wills J (2010). A migrant ethic of care? Negotiating care andcaring among migrant workers in london’slow-oav economy.
Feminist Review,
94(1), 93-116.
Abstract:
A migrant ethic of care? Negotiating care andcaring among migrant workers in london’slow-oav economy
A care deficit is clearly evident in global cities such as London and is attributable to an ageing population, the increased employment of native-born women, prevalentgender ideologies that continue to exempt men from much reproductive work, as wellas the failure of the state to provide viable alternatives. However, while it is nowacknowledged that migrant women, and to a lesser extent, migrant men, step in toprovide care in cities such as London, there is less research on how this shapes thenature, politics and ethics of care. Drawing upon empirical research with low-paidmigrant workers employed as domiciliary care providers in London, this paper exploresthe emergence of a distinct migrant ethic of care that is critically shaped by thecaring work that migrant women and men perform. © 2010 Feminist Review.
Abstract.
Wills J (2010). Academic agents for change. City, 14(6), 616-618.
May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbertand J, McIlwaine C (2010). Global Cities at Work: Migrant Labour in Low-Paid Employment in London. London Journal, 35(1), 85-99.
Rantisi NM (2009). <i>Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers Perspective</i>. Edited by Angela Hale and Jane Wills. Economic Geography, 83(2), 205-206.
Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2009). Men on the move: Narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London.
Social and Cultural Geography,
10(8), 853-873.
Abstract:
Men on the move: Narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London
The impact of migration on gender identities, norms and conventions has been predominantly understood from the perspective of female migrants. Far less attention has been paid to the potential that migration entails for the negotiation and reconstruction of male identities. Drawing on sixty-seven in-depth interviews with male migrants employed in low-paid work in London, this paper explores the reworking of male identities at different stages of 'the migration project', focusing particularly upon the reasons extended for migration and how these are shaped by gender ideologies in home countries and negotiation of life and work in London. The paper also draws attention to ways in which these re-negotiations are themselves cross-cut by ethnic, racial and class differences, so constructing a more nuanced picture of mobile men and male identities. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
Abstract.
Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, McIlwaine C (2009). Religion at work: the role of faith-based organizations in the London living wage campaign. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2(3), 443-461.
WILLS J (2008). Making Class Politics Possible: Organizing Contract Cleaners in London.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,
32(2), 305-323.
Abstract:
Making Class Politics Possible: Organizing Contract Cleaners in London
AbstractThis article tells the story of community and union‐led efforts to re‐regulate the contract cleaning sector and to organize cleaners at Canary Wharf and in the City of London. It provides a historical overview of the campaign and highlights its innovative responses to subcontracted employment in the city today. The article starts by outlining anti‐essentialist approaches to the politics of class before using the campaign to flesh out what such politics might look like. In this case, the successful prosecution of class politics has depended upon the politics of class moving far beyond any particular workplace. Workplace issues have been recast as matters for the wider community engaging a diverse set of actors including workers, community organizations, contractors, clients, the media and London's politicians.Résumé Cet article relate une initiative communautaire et syndicale visant à re‐réguler le secteur des services de nettoyage et à en organiser le personnel dans les deux quartiers londoniens de Canary Wharf et de la City. Après un historique de la campagne, l’article souligne toute la nouveauté des réponses apportées à l’emploi sous‐traité dans la ville actuellement. Il expose d’abord les approches anti‐essentialistes de la politique de classe avant d’utiliser la campagne pour préciser ce à quoi cette politique pourrait ressembler. En l’occurrence, l’exercice réussi d’une politique de classe a tenu au fait que cette politique a transcendé tout lieu de travail spécifique. Les aspects propres au lieu de travail ont été refondus en thèmes concernant l’ensemble de la communauté et impliquant un ensemble diversifié d’acteurs, notamment les employés, les organisations représentatives de la communauté, les fournisseurs de services, les clients, les média et des hommes politiques londoniens.
Abstract.
Wills J (2008). Mapping Class and its Political Possibilities. Antipode, 40(1), 25-30.
Herbert J, May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, McIlwaine C (2008). Multicultural Living?.
European Urban and Regional Studies,
15(2), 103-117.
Abstract:
Multicultural Living?
Since the 1990s migrants from smaller, legally differentiated and non-citizen immigrant groups have formed the main flows of migration to the UK and yet they have been overlooked in academic and public debates and agendas. While much academic research has been devoted to racism, the new forms of racism which accompany the `new migration' have also received little attention. This article, therefore, demonstrates the continuing importance and changing nature of contemporary racisms as experienced by Ghanaians; a less-established migrant group. The article traces the particular forms of racisms experienced within their working lives as well as their diverse responses to racism: a relatively unexplored dimension of discrimination. The various coping strategies which the workers developed to overcome difficulties are highlighted, at the individual and collective levels, and this reveals the importance of diaspora groups and transnational links. It is argued that focusing on responses to racism is a crucial facet in helping to understand the actual impact of racial discrimination and also avoids portraying minority ethnic groups as the passive recipients of racisms. The article is also an intervention into the current debates about multicultural Britain. It is argued that the current discourse on the failures of multiculturalism should focus less on minority ethnic groups as the principal problem for integration and engage with the issues of racism, exclusion and material inequalities which penetrate the lives of low-paid migrant workers.
Abstract.
Wills J (2008). Subcontracted Employment and its Challenge to Labor.
Labor Studies Journal,
34(4), 441-460.
Abstract:
Subcontracted Employment and its Challenge to Labor
This article argues that subcontracted employment is becoming paradigmatic. This form of employment has stark consequences for traditional models of trade union organization that focus on collective bargaining with the employer. The article highlights the need for subcontracted workers to put pressure on the “real employer” at the top of any contracting chain. Drawing on the lessons from community-union organizing efforts and, particularly, living wage campaigns, the article suggests that trade unions can effectively work with other social movements and allies in the community to secure the political leverage needed to change the terms and conditions of subcontracted employment. The article illustrates these arguments by exploring recent experience of the living wage campaign in London. The article draws on original research material from the Homerton Hospital and Queen Mary, University of London, to explore the progress of these living wage campaigns and their wider significance for labor organization.
Abstract.
Wills J (2008). Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in Transnational Labor Organization.
Economic Geography,
74(2), 111-130.
Abstract:
Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in Transnational Labor Organization*
Abstract:. This paper revisits the argument that globalization necessarily undermines trade union organization. In addition to heightened competition for investment and the threat of social dumping, the internationalization of capital can also bring workers into closer contact with each other. Working class nationalism and internationalism are both possible outcomes of economic globalization. By exploring the history of labor internationalism and the current development of European Works Councils (EWCs), this paper urges caution in assuming that globalization necessarily threatens labor organization. Contemporary experience suggests that, in some instances, the changing world economy poses new opportunities for workers to organize across national boundaries. I draw on preliminary research into the development of EWCs in the United Kingdom to suggest that they offer real opportunities for new forms of labor internationalism, and as such, EWCs are emblematic of the possibilities and problems facing workers as they seek to organize in a globalizing world.
Abstract.
Evans Y, Wills J, Datta K, Herbert J, McIlwaine C, May J (2007). 'Subcontracting by Stealth' in London's Hotels: Impacts and Implications for Labour Organising. Just Labour
Datta K, McIlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J, Wills J (2007). From Coping Strategies to Tactics: London's Low‐Pay Economy and Migrant Labour.
British Journal of Industrial Relations,
45(2), 404-432.
Abstract:
From Coping Strategies to Tactics: London's Low‐Pay Economy and Migrant Labour
AbstractThis article examines the means by which low‐paid migrant workers survive in a rapidly changing and increasingly unequal labour market. In a departure from the coping strategies literature, it is argued that the difficulties migrant workers face in the London labour market reduces their ability to ‘strategize’. Instead, workers adopt a range of ‘tactics’ that enable them to ‘get by’, if only just, on a day‐to‐day basis. The article explores these tactics with reference to the connections between different workers’ experiences of the workplace, home and community, and demonstrates the role of national, ethnic and gender relations in shaping migrant workers’ experiences of the London labour market and of the city more widely.
Abstract.
May J, Wills J, Datta K, Evans Y, Herbert J, McIlwaine C (2007). Keeping London working: global cities, the British state and London's new migrant division of labour.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
32(2), 151-167.
Abstract:
Keeping London working: global cities, the British state and London's new migrant division of labour
This paper explores the emergence of a new ‘migrant division of labour’ in London. In contrast to a vision of ‘professionalization’, it shows that London's labour market has been characterized by processes of occupational polarization and that a disproportionate number of London's low‐paid jobs are now filled by foreign‐born workers. Drawing on original survey data, the paper explores the pay and conditions of London's low‐paid migrant workers and develops a framework for understanding the emergence of a new migrant division of labour in London. In particular, the paper stresses the role of the British state in shaping this divide. The paper concludes that the emergence of such a divide in London necessitates a re‐conceptualization of the place of migrant workers in the ‘global city’ and of the processes shaping global city labour markets, and outlines what this new division of labour might mean for politics and policy in London.
Abstract.
Datta K, McIlwaine C, Wills J, Evans Y, Herbert J, May J (2007). The new development finance or exploiting migrant labour? Remittance sending among low-paid migrant workers in London.
International Development Planning Review,
29(1), 43-67.
Abstract:
The new development finance or exploiting migrant labour? Remittance sending among low-paid migrant workers in London
This paper challenges the recent hailing of migrant remittances as a panacea for development finance in countries of the global South. It argues that such a viewpoint fails to recognise the costs to migrant workers of remitting. Many of these workers reside in the industrialised countries of the global North. Based on an empirical investigation of low-paid migrant workers in London, this paper highlights the nature of remittance sending, the often exploitative nature of the labour market conditions under which remittances are produced, and the economic and emotional sacrifices that migrants make in order to remit. Thus, we argue, a development policy based on the generation of remittances is inappropriate, unsustainable and unethical.
Abstract.
HALE A, WILLS J (2007). Women Working Worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research.
Global Networks,
7(4), 453-476.
Abstract:
Women Working Worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research
AbstractIn this article we trace the history of a new form of labour internationalism that emerged in support of women workers’ organizations, in particular in the garment industry, from the 1980s. We tell the story of the emergence of Women Working Worldwide (WWW), a small UK‐based NGO that provides solidarity and support for a network of women workers’ organizations in the commodity producing zones of the global South. WWW grew along with other organizations that have succeeded in forcing global corporations to take some responsibility for the employment conditions along their supply chains. In what has become corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies now establish codes of conduct and workplace audits of employment conditions in those factories to which they subcontract manufacturing work. WWW played a key part in the establishment of the Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour Behind the Label and the Ethical Trading Initiative that continue to develop such practices today. WWW used the power of transnational networks to ensure that the needs and voices of women workers were put on the agenda for action. The story of WWW demonstrates the potential to effect change through transnational networking, the extent to which different local organizations can find common cause with each other and the benefits of engaging in locally‐focused but transnationally coordinated educational and action research projects.
Abstract.
Wills J (2006). European Works Councils in British firms. Human Resource Management Journal, 9(4), 19-38.
Wills J (2006). Geographies of Trade Unionism: Translating Traditions Across Space and Time.
Antipode,
28(4), 352-378.
Abstract:
Geographies of Trade Unionism: Translating Traditions Across Space and Time
In the context of national trade union decline, this paper explores the geography of trade union organization through case study research at the Shredded Wheat Factory in Welwyn Garden City (Herfordshire, UK). This example highlights the geographical constitution of trade union traditions, focusing upon the ways in which collective practices and ideas are forged in particular places but also how trade union traditions can be translated across space, from one place to another. This translation is argued to take place in three ways: (i) through the direct migration of workers, (ii) through the “demonstration effects” of strikes, trade union defeats and the ensuing media and trade union coverage of these events, and (iii) through solidarity initiatives taken by workers themselves. Rather than understanding workers' traditions as being historical products in place, I argue they are simultaneously geographical in their constitution. Trade unionism is shown to be processual, constantly evolving in and across time and space. Through such insights the research enhances existing geographical work in the field, advocating an approach which focuses upon the agency involved in trade union organization, the processual nature of trade union organization and the importance of the spatial translation of trade union traditions.
Abstract.
Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (2006). UNIONS AND THE POLITICS OF DEINDUSTRIALIZATION: SOME COMMENTS ON HOW GEOGRAPHY COMPLICATES CLASS ANALYSIS. Antipode, 26(1), 59-76.
Wills J (2006). What's left? the left, its crisis and rehabilitation. Antipode, 38(5), 907-915.
Wills J (2005). The Geography of Union Organising in Low‐Paid Service Industries in the UK: Lessons from the T&G's Campaign to Unionise the Dorchester Hotel, London.
Antipode,
37(1), 139-159.
Abstract:
The Geography of Union Organising in Low‐Paid Service Industries in the UK: Lessons from the T&G's Campaign to Unionise the Dorchester Hotel, London
This paper highlights the importance of organising workers in the low‐paid services sector if British trade unions are to secure themselves for the future. After outlining the scale of the challenge and the new efforts being made to promote organising by unions, the paper looks at the hotel industry in more depth. A case study of a union campaign to win union recognition at the Dorchester Hotel in London is used to highlight the limitations of workplace‐focused campaigns in this sector. Drawing on the lessons of experience in North America, the paper then argues that an extra‐workplace, occupational and/or sectoral approach may well secure better results. In so doing, workplace issues could be recast as matters of economic and social injustice, widening the scale of any campaign.
Abstract.
Wills J (2004). A Stake in Place? the Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
23(1), 79-94.
Abstract:
A Stake in Place? the Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society
In recent years employee ownership has become a means by which some workers facing privatization, closure or takeover have attempted to defend their jobs and communities. Proponents of a ‘stakeholding’ society have advocated the widening of share ownership as a means of democratizing the economy, building partnerships and achieving consensus at work. But is employee ownership able to sustain local investment and industrial partnership? Through a detailed case study of a management and employee buyout in the railway industry, I suggest that the ability of employee ownership to fix investment in place may be enhanced by relations of ‘stakeholding’, increasing employee commitment to the firm and its future. In the case studied here, however, lack of employee power and finance effectively excluded most workers from the processes and philosophy of the buyout. The new ownership structure did little to reshape local relations between workers and those in control. While ownership cannot eradicate economic threats to community, it might, if used as a mechanism to promote new styles of management and employee commitment, foster long‐term success. It is argued that government and trade unions can do more to promote wider employee ownership and participation at work in the future.
Abstract.
Savage L, Wills J (2004). New geographies of trade unionism. Geoforum, 35(1), 5-7.
Wills J (2004). Trade unionism and partnership in practice: evidence from the Barclays–Unifi agreement. Industrial Relations Journal, 35(4), 329-343.
Wills J (2002). Bargaining for the space to organize in the global economy: a review of the Accor-IUF trade union rights agreement. Review of International Political Economy, 9(4), 675-700.
Wills J (2002). Community unionism and trade union renewal in the UK: moving beyond the fragments at last?.
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,
26(4), 465-483.
Abstract:
Community unionism and trade union renewal in the UK: moving beyond the fragments at last?
This paper explores the theory and practice of community unionism. It is now widely argued that if trade unions are to reach employees in small workplaces, those on part‐time or temporary contracts, and women, black and ethnic minority workers, they need to sustain alliances beyond the walls of the workplace. Increasing the scale of political mobilization in this way can help secure trade union organization amongst new groups of workers while giving unions the power to raise questions of economic and social justice at a wider scale. After summarizing current developments in North America, the paper focuses on the situation in the UK in more detail. By highlighting the pioneering community unionism of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) and Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council (BWTUC), the paper explores the implications of community unionism for the future of trade unionism in the UK.
Abstract.
Hodkinson S (2002). Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalismsedited by Peter Waterman and Jane Wills, Oxford: Blackwell, 2001, 300 pp. ISBN 0-631-22983-3. Relations industrielles, 57(4), 796-796.
Wills J (2002). Political economy III: Neoliberal chickens, Seattle and geography. Progress in Human Geography, 26(1), 90-100.
Wills J, Peck J (2002). Progress or Retreat? <i>Antipode</i> and the Radical Geographical Project. Antipode, 34(4), 667-671.
Waterman P, Wills J (2002). Space, Place and the New Labour Internationalisms: Beyond the Fragments?. Antipode, 33(3), 305-311.
Wills J (2002). Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: the Lessons of European Works Councils.
Antipode,
33(3), 484-509.
Abstract:
Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: the Lessons of European Works Councils
This contribution explores the ways in which trade unions have sought to organise workers in transnational corporations (TNCs) before looking at the pitfalls and possibilities of European Works Councils in more detail. The EWC directive covers an estimated 1400 companies across Europe, employing at least 15 million workers, and there are now more than 500 EWCs in existence. These new institutions are designed to allow employee representatives from across Europe to meet together for the purposes of information exchange and consultation with the senior managers from the TNC concerned. EWCs thus provide new horizontal networks of employee representatives across Europe and create new opportunities for information exchange, the formulation of transnational trade union responses and strategy and even active solidarity across national divides. This contribution draws upon original empirical evidence that highlights the difficulties of making EWCs work in this way. It is argued that there are at least four areas in which trade union intervention would make a difference to the operation of EWCs: (1) building active networks within and beyond any EWC; (2) sharing corporate intelligence; (3) formulating strategy at the level of the EWC; and (4) fostering identification with colleagues in other parts of the corporate network.
Abstract.
Wills J (1999). Political economy I: global crisis, learning and labour. Progress in Human Geography, 23(3), 443-451.
Wills J (1998). Taking on the CosmoCorps? Experiments in transnational labor organization.
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY,
74(2), 111-130.
Author URL.
Wills J (1998). Uprooting tradition: Rethinking the place and space of labour organization. European Planning Studies, 6(1), 31-42.
Wills J (1996). Uneven Reserves: Geographies of Banking Trade Unionism. Regional Studies, 30(4), 359-372.
Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1994). Local Industrial Politics. Employee Relations, 16(2), 84-99.
Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1994). The Decentralization of Industrial Relations? New Institutional Spaces and the Role of Local Context in British Engineering. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 19(4), 457-457.
Martin R, Sunley P, Wills J (1993). The Decentralisation of Industrial Politics? the Role of Regional Context in the Reshaping of Trade Unionism within British Engineering.
Management Research News,
16(5/6), 2-2.
Abstract:
The Decentralisation of Industrial Politics? the Role of Regional Context in the Reshaping of Trade Unionism within British Engineering
Since the end of the 1970s, the restructuring of the economic landscape and the drive by governments throughout Europe to deregulate markets, reduce institutional rigidities, and flexibilise the movement of capital and labour, have confronted trade unions with the most serious challenges they have faced for more than half a century. According to many commentators, a process of decollectivisation and decentralisation of industrial relations is now firmly established. For example, Baglioni (1990) describes decentralisation as one of the dominant trends in contemporary European industrial relations. In his view ‘Decentralisation, all in all, is part of the general retreat of the labour movement. It is often a manifestation of the alteration of the power balance in favour of management, and it has created complicated problems for union strategy.’
Abstract.
Chapters
Wills J, Lake RW (2020). Introduction: the power of pragmatism. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 3-54.
Abstract:
Introduction: the power of pragmatism
Abstract.
Harney L, Wills J (2020). Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production. In (Ed)
The power of pragmatism: Knowledge production and social inquiry, Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 176-194.
Abstract:
Reflections on an Experiment in Pragmatic Social Research and Knowledge Production
Abstract.
Wills J (2019). Organising. In the Antipode Editorial Collective (Ed)
Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 202-206.
Abstract:
Organising
Abstract.
Wills J (2018). Faith in action: Lessons from Citizens UK’s work in east London. In Pemberton C (Ed) Theology and civil society, Routledge, 19-44.
Wills J, Horton A (2018). Impacts of the living wage on in-work poverty. In Lohmann H, Marx I (Eds.) Handbook of research on in-work poverty, Edward Elgar.
Wills J (2017). Living Wage. In (Ed) International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology, Wiley, 1-2.
Wills J (2017). Migrant Division of Labor. In (Ed) International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology, Wiley, 1-2.
Lee R, Wills J (2014). Concluding reflections on geographies of economies. In (Ed) Geographies of Economies, 357-358.
Wills J (2014). Engaging. In Lee R (Ed) Sage handbook of progress in human geography, 367-384.
(2013). Globalization and protest Jane Wills. In (Ed) Introducing Human Geographies, Routledge, 585-599.
Wills J (2013). Organising in the global economy: the accor IUF trade union rights agreement. In (Ed) European Works Councils: Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will?, 211-223.
Wills J (2012). Place and Politics. In (Ed) Spatial Politics: Essays for Doreen Massey, 133-145.
Wills J (2012). Uneven Geographies of Capital and Labour: the Lessons of European Works Councils. In (Ed) Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms, Wiley, 180-205.
Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2011). Chapter 35: Global Workers for Global Cities: Low Paid Migrant Labour in London. In (Ed) International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, Edward Elgar Publishing.
Datta K, McIlwaine C, Herbert J, Evans Y, May J, Wills J (2011). Global workers for global cities: Low paid migrant labour in London. In (Ed) International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, 390-397.
Wills J, Datta K, May J, McIlwaine C, Evans Y, Herbert J (2010). (Im)migration, local, regional and uneven development. In (Ed) Handbook of Local and Regional Development, 449-459.
Wills J, McIlwaine C, Datta K, May J, Herbert J, Evans Y (2010). New migrant divisions of labour. In (Ed) The Economic Geography of the UK, 225-238.
Anderson J, Hamilton P, Wills J (2010). The multi-scalarity of trade union practice. In (Ed) Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space, 383-397.
Wills J, Hurley J (2008). Action Research: Tracing the Threads of Labour in the Global Garment Industry. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 69-94.
Hale A, Wills J (2008). Conclusion. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 234-239.
Wills J, Hale A (2008). Threads of Labour in the Global Garment Industry. In (Ed) Threads of Labour: Garment Industry Supply Chains from the Workers' Perspective, 1-15.
Wills J (2007). The place of personal politics. In (Ed) Politics and Practice in Economic Geography, 131-140.
Wills J (2003). Organizing in transport and travel: Learning lessons from TSSAs Seacat campaign. In (Ed)
Union Organizing: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition, 133-152.
Abstract:
Organizing in transport and travel: Learning lessons from TSSAs Seacat campaign
Abstract.
