%0 Journal Article
%T ¡®Going Underground¡¯: A Tube Worker¡¯s Experience of Struggles over the Frontier of Control
%A Emma S Hughes
%A Stephen Murphy
%A Tony Dobbins
%J Work, Employment and Society
%@ 1469-8722
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0950017018758215
%X Mainstream media representation of London Underground (LU) workers typically foregrounds their alleged militancy, greed and negligence towards the travelling public. This knee-jerk tendency obscures the voices, expressions and experiences of workers themselves. This article enriches public sociology by giving Stephen, a Tube driver and former LU station worker, a platform to share his vivid story. Stephen¡¯s voice reveals deep sociological insights into the realities of workplace struggles over the shifting ¡®frontier of control¡¯ at LU, and graphically captures uneven and fluid patterns of individual/collective resistance to restructuring and ¡®modernization¡¯. His lived experiences of managerial control and worker autonomy, interfacing with different degrees of alienation, new technology and customer engagement, have changed over time as ¡®passengers¡¯ become ¡®customers¡¯ and ¡®give and take¡¯ employment relations dwindle
%K disputes
%K frontier of control
%K London Underground
%K modernization
%K resistance
%K unions
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0950017018758215