Builders

Darren Thiel is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Essex. Before taking up this position, he worked in a number of different occupations including the agricultural, construction, service and military sectors. After completing his PhD in 2006 he also worked as a researcher at the Home Office and the Police Foundation, and taught sociology at the University of East Anglia, UK.

• 1: Contracting and subcontracting: the build, its builders and their ethnic communities, 2. Managing ‘in the office’, 3. Working ‘on the tools’, 4. Time, recreation and workplace culture, 5. Becoming a builder and being working class, 6. Building masculinity: bodies, law and violence, 7. Economy, informality and social stratification, 8. Conclusion: Cultures, capitalisms and class reproduction, Appendix A. Specifications and costs of the building project

'Thiel's study sheds new light on an area of labour that has been understudied, and under theorised by ethnographers. This is a sensitive analysis of working life in the British construction industry, which tackles the most fundamental debates in labour studies with ambition and care. Thiel's book is required reading for anyone seeking to understand more about one of the largest and most fascinating sectors of the global economy.'-Dr. Andrew Sanchez, London School of Economics and Political Science'...a welcome addition to the scarce resources which document working life in the construction industry.''The strength of the book lies in the words of the workers who describe their ethnic and social backgrounds, approaches to work, money, family life, aspirations and their opinions of the social hierarchy within the building site itself. Alongside this are extracts from Thiel's own ethnographic diary of his time on site, which provides very detailed observations of building site life and work.''...it makes compelling reading, is a very important addition to existing literature and is highly recommended to everyone engaged in research on, or with an interest in, today's construction industry.'-Christine Wall, University of Westminster, London, in CLR News, no 3 2012