The way large numbers of people in the developed economies sell their time, skills and efforts in the 21st Century world of paid work is damaging to their health, well-being and relationships. They are required to commit more to the organisations they work for, who then subject them to an intensification of the expectations related to their perform

Peter Kelly is Deputy Head of School (Research and Innovation), School of Education, RMIT University, Australia. He is a social theorist and researcher specialising in youth studies, social theory and globalisation. Most recently he has worked in partnership with Mission Australia, a third sector organisation that operates a social enterprise training and employment program for marginalised, unemployed young people. The action learning project examined the organisational and identify practices that influence young people's experiences of this program. Kelly co-authored the book Working in Jamie's Kitchen: Salvation, Passion and Young Workers, which used the manufactured drama of the TV series to examine the ways in which marginalised young people are required to transform themselves to secure a precarious form of salvation in globalised labour markets. His work on the evolution of a 'professional identity' for Australian Football League footballers has also been published.

Contents: From Kevin 07 to Kevin 24/7; New work ethics and the self as enterprise; After (a) method; Michel Foucault and the care of a self; Flexible capitalism and the Brazilianisation of work?; The spirit of 21st century capitalism; Better than sex, and toil and drudgery; Stress and the edge of chaos; The body, mind and soul of the self as enterprise; 24/7 and the problem of work-life balance; Conclusion: le laisser-faire, c'est fini; References; Index.