A Company of One: Insecurity, Independence, and the New World of White-Collar Unemployment

Lane (American studies, California State U., Fullerton) draws from interviews with 75 unemployed and underemployed high-tech white collar workers in the Dallas area who lost their jobs in the 2001 dot-com bust, to show how they have embraced a new definition of employment in which all jobs are temporary and all employees are independent "companies of one." She examines the role of organized networking events, working spouses, and neoliberal ideology in reinforcing a new individualist, pro-market response to the insecurity of contemporary employment, and how this new view is changing traditional ideas about masculinity and the role of men as breadwinners. She also addresses how it hides the true costs of an insecure workforce and makes collective and political responses unlikely. Her research includes follow-up interviews with nine of the workers in 2009, addressed in the epilogue. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)