Alex J. Wood is a sociologist of work and employment, focusing on the changing nature of employment relations and labour market transformation.
Alex previously researched online labour markets and virtual employment relations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia as part of the “Microwork and Virtual Production Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia” project. This project investigates the economic and social implications of new forms of economic activities in the context of ICTs for development.
Alex completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge Department of Sociology where he also worked as Research Associate on an ESRC impact acceleration project to evaluate potential ways of reducing workplace stress resulting from insecure scheduling.
Alex’s PhD (2015) is titled the “The insecure worker: workplace control in the 21st Century”. His PhD focuses on the changing nature of flexible and insecure forms of work such as zero hour contracts. New patterns of working-time flexibility and how this relates to insecurity, well-being, and issues of workplace control and resistance being central to account developed.
He also has a long standing interest in the relationships between industrial relations, union renewal and emerging forms of workplace representation and new patterns of class and inequality.
Previously he received his MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge (2011) with distinction. He received a first class BSc (hons) degree in Politics and Sociology, from Aston University (2009).
Job insecurity; firm flexibility; workplace control and resistance; industrial relations; union renewal and new forms of workplace representation; sociology of labour markets; economic sociology; class and inequality; online and digital labour.
The iLabour project is premised on the idea that a fundamental change is taking place in labour markets. It seeks to understand the social and policy implications of this momentous shift.
This project aims to understand the implications of gig economy and online freelancing for economic development.
By Mark Graham, Vili Lehdonvirta, Alex Wood, Helena Barnard, Isis Hjorth, and David Peter Simon
Gig work is becoming increasingly important to workers living in low- and middle-income countries. This report argues for changes in platforms, regulation, and activism to strengthen those worker’s rights and improve their working conditions.
28 February 2019
Gig economy platforms causing “unpaid labour” among workers in developing world
8 August 2018
New research reveals the poor quality working conditions of the digital gig economy
8 March 2018
7 February 2018
Wired, 15 December 2022
A wave of freelancers say they are losing income because of algorithmic decisions, and they can’t fight back.
The Independent, 09 November 2022
The study found the algorithms – processes used to rank workers according to performance metrics – lack transparency and are highly volatile.
internetactu.net, 05 October 2016
Discussing work by Mark Graham and Alex Wood on the transformation of work in the digital age (in French).
