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

(Cornell University Press) The author finds that the new culture of corporate employment, changes to the job search process, and dual-income marriage have reshaped how today’s skill workers view unemployment. Through interviews with 75 unemployed and underemployed white-collar works, Lane shows that they have embraced a new definition of employment in which all jobs are temporary and all workers are, or should be, “companies of one.” Lane is an assistant professor of American studies at California State University, Fullerton.