Palgrave, 2002, 256pp, £21.99 (pbk), £50 (hbk); ISBN 0-33-377441 -8 (pbk) 0-33-377440-X (hbk)

This article argues that communities of coping among frontline service workers are an important part of what Hochschild has called `collective emotional labour' in service work. The analysis is framed in a sociological understanding of the customer as a key source of both pleasure and pain for service workers. Irate and abusive customers, who are systematically part of the social relations of the service workplace, may occasion real pain to service workers. The structure of workers' social situation means that they are likely to turn to each other to cope with this pain, forming informal communities of coping. Drawing on extensive research in four call centres in Australia and the USA, the article highlights this process in action. The communities of coping were an important social process in these workplaces, creating informal, dense cultures among the workforce. These cultures had important implications for how far the social relations of the workplace were open to management control.

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Previous discussion of knowledge work and workers tends to overlook the importance of contextual knowledge in shaping the organizational form of knowledge workers who are employees in large corporations. This paper proposes a model to understand the way knowledge base and organizational form are related to the work commitment, effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. The model is derived from (1) a critical examination of the market model of knowledge work organization, and (2) the results of empirical research conducted in two large corporations. We argue that contextual knowledge is important in the relationships between the corporation and knowledge workers. A dualistic model and an enclave organizational form are suggested to examine the relationships between the commitment, work effort and job satisfaction of knowledge workers. We noted from our empirical cases that enclave-like work teams enhanced the expertise and job autonomy of knowledge workers vis-à-vis management. These work teams together with the performance-based pay system, however, led to unmet job expectations including limited employee influence over decision-making and careers, and communication gaps with senior management. Under these circumstances, and in contrast to the impact of occupational commitment, organizational commitment did not contribute to work effort. The study highlights the importance of management's strategy in shaping the organizational form of knowledge work. The paper concludes by noting general implications of our study for the management of expertise and for further research.

A B S T R AC TThis article charts the historical and contemporary absences in the sociology of service work. Although studies of service work have now become the empirical mainstream in the sociology of work, there have been few attempts to conceptualize broad patterns of worker-customer relations in service work. This neglect is to be regretted because whether the customer is an alienating figure for service workers constitutes a key unasked question in contemporary sociology of work. The article highlights three factors that are likely to have a key influence on workers' sense of alienation vis-a-vis the customer. It highlights divergent literature in each of these areas and hence ends with a call for research on this topic. K E Y WO R D Salienation / customer / service work T he focus in this article is on front line service work, defined as work undertaken where the central job task involves interaction with a service-recipient and where the job status is below that of professional. 1 The article lays out the historical neglect of service work and shows that from the 1990s, service work began to occupy the centre stage in empirical sociology of work studies. It is argued that there are still important gaps in our sociological understanding of service work. The two key unasked questions of the contemporary consumer society are: is the customer an alienating figure for service workers? and what are the key factors affecting the service workers' subjective levels of alienation vis-a-vis the customer? These questions are central to our understanding of the service economy.

Evidence from a range of sources suggests that customer abuse to service workers is a significant phenomenon. This article argues that a large part of customer abuse is endogenously created within the fabric of the service economy. Thirty book-length ethnographies were coded for relevant data and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was undertaken. The findings show that frequent customer abuse is associated with a configuration of the promotion of customer sovereignty (at organizational, sectoral and national levels), the weak position of labour, the higher social status position of customers vis-à-vis workers and the structuring of service interactions as encounters.

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