Paul Thompson (academic)

Thompson completed his undergraduate degree in sociology and politics at the University of Liverpool in 1972. He then worked in further education while earning a doctorate at the same university in 1981. After publishing his first book, The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process in 1983, he was joined University of Central Lancashire as lecturer. He became a Professor in 1988 and, while at Central Lancashire, co-authored Work Organisations with David McHugh. In the early 1990s, he collaborated with colleagues on comparative research projects on the commercial vehicle and international hotel industries.{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/095001709594005|title=It Ain't What You do, it's the Way that You do it: Production Organisation and Skill Utilisation in Commercial Vehicles|first1=Paul|last1=Thompson|first2=Terry|last2=Wallace|first3=Jorg|last3=Flecker|first4=Roland|last4=Ahlstrand|date=1 December 1995|journal=Work, Employment and Society|volume=9|issue=4|pages=719–742|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/095001709594005|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/095851998340748|title=Not part of the family? The limits to managing the corporate way in international hotel chains|date=1 January 1998|journal=The International Journal of Human Resource Management|volume=9|issue=6|pages=1048–1063|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/095851998340748 |last1=Jones |first1=Carol |last2=Thompson |first2=Paul |last3=Nickson |first3=Dennis |url-access=subscription}}

In 1995, Thompson moved to Scotland to take a Chair in the Department of Business Studies at the University of Edinburgh. During his four years there, he led a major research project on the Scottish spirits industry{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267005312002|title=In Search of Perfect People Teamwork and Team Players in the Scottish Spirits Industry|first1=Patricia|last1=Findlay|first2=Alan|last2=McKinlay|first3=Abigail|last3=Marks|first4=Paul|last4=Thompson|date=1 December 2000|journal=Human Relations|volume=53|issue=12|pages=1549–1574|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/00187267005312002|url-access=subscription}} and co-authored Organisational Misbehaviour (1999) with Stephen Ackroyd. In the same year, he joined the University of Strathclyde as a Professor of Organisational Analysis, where he remained for 15 years. His research during this time included studies on call centers with George Callaghan (Open University),{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X01221002|title=Edwards Revisited: Technical Control and Call Centres|first1=George|last1=Callaghan|first2=Paul|last2=Thompson|date=1 February 2001|journal=Economic and Industrial Democracy|volume=22|issue=1|pages=13–37|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/0143831X01221002|url-access=subscription}} supermarket supply chains with Kirsty Newsome and Joanne Commander,{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ntwe.12000|title='You monitor performance at every hour': labour and the management of performance in the supermarket supply chain|first1=Kirsty|last1=Newsome|first2=Paul|last2=Thompson|first3=Johanna|last3=Commander|date=26 March 2013|journal=New Technology, Work and Employment|volume=28|issue=1|pages=1–15|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1111/ntwe.12000|url-access=subscription}} and critical perspectives on the knowledge and creative economy with Chris Warhurst (Strathclyde).{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017006069815|title=Mapping knowledge in work: proxies or practices?|first1=Chris|last1=Warhurst|first2=Paul|last2=Thompson|date=1 December 2006|journal=Work, Employment and Society|volume=20|issue=4|pages=787–800|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/0950017006069815|url-access=subscription}} He also developed research collaborations in Australia, particularly with Rachel Parker on the creative industries and Paula McDonald on social media in employment at the Queensland University of Technology.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10286632.2015.1064118|title=The dynamics of global visual effects and games development industries: lessons for Australia's creative industries development policy|date=4 July 2017|journal=International Journal of Cultural Policy|volume=23|issue=4|pages=395–414|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/10286632.2015.1064118 |last1=Parker |first1=Rachel |last2=Cox |first2=Stephen |last3=Thompson |first3=Paul }}{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijmr.12061|title=Social Media(tion) and the Reshaping of Public/Private Boundaries in Employment Relations|first1=Paula|last1=McDonald|first2=Paul|last2=Thompson|date=26 March 2016|journal=International Journal of Management Reviews|volume=18|issue=1|pages=69–84|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1111/ijmr.12061}} In 2015, he took a fractional appointment at the University of Stirling’s School of Management, acting as Research Impact Director, before retiring in 2020.

Thompson has been a labour movement activist and political commentator. In the 1970s, he was a member of the revolutionary socialist organization Big Flame, originally founded in Liverpool.{{Cite web|url=https://bigflameuk.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/opinions-about-big-flame-no-2/|title=OPINIONS ABOUT BIG FLAME no 2: PAUL THOMPSON|date=17 July 2009}} His work, The Revolution Unfinished, was a critique of Trotskyism.{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/critiques/bigflame/index.htm|title=Thompson + Lewis: Revolution Unfinished? (1977)|website=www.marxists.org}} In 1980, he joined the Labour Party and, in 1983, became a member of the executive of the left pressure group, the Labour Coordinating Committee (LCC), which had diverged from the more traditional left after the 1983 General Election result.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@nigelstanley/after-the-landslide-the-labour-co-ordinating-committee-lcc-on-the-1983-election-fff03b2a5018|title=After the Landslide — The Labour Co-ordinating Committee (LCC)on the 1983 election|first=Nigel|last=Stanley|date=15 December 2019}} He was Chair of the organization from 1986 to 1988 and was involved in opposing the Militant Tendency's takeover of the Labour Party in Liverpool.{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030981688602900101|title=Labour and the local state in Liverpool|first1=Paul |last1=Thompson|first2= Mike|last2=Allen|date=1 July 1986|journal=Capital & Class|volume=10|issue=2|pages=7–11|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/030981688602900101|url-access=subscription}} While working at Beijing University in 1989, he supported the pro-democracy uprising that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/article/how-the-hope-of-tiananmen-square-gave-way-to-despair-98jmn03fk|title=How the hope of Tiananmen Square gave way to despair|first=Paul|last=Thompson|date=3 June 2019|website=www.thetimes.com}}

As the LCC declined, he helped launch Renewal, a journal committed to exploring radical social democratic policies in the British Labour Party and wider left.{{cite web| title =Editorial Board | url = http://renewal.org.uk/about/board |publisher=Renewal |accessdate=26 March 2016}} Thompson co-edited alongside Neal Lawson from 1993 to 2006 and remains on its Editorial Board.{{Cite web|url=https://renewal.org.uk/about/|title=About|date=23 September 2020}} Since then, he has contributed political commentary and policy ideas to outlets including Dissent, Political Quarterly and Labour List.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/tall-tales-of-a-regular-guy/|title=Tall Tales of a Regular Guy}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/new-labour-an-obituary/|title=New Labour: An Obituary}}{{Cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12940|title=A Strategic Left? Starmerism, Pluralism and the Soft Left|first1=Paul|last1=Thompson|first2=Frederick Harry|last2=Pitts|first3=Jo|last3=Ingold|date=26 March 2021|journal=The Political Quarterly|volume=92|issue=1|pages=32–39|via=Wiley Online Library|doi=10.1111/1467-923X.12940|hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30146456|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite web|url=https://labourlist.org/2021/08/labours-political-strategy-age-assets-and-the-politics-of-work/|title=Labour's political strategy: age, assets and the politics of work|first=Jon Cruddas, Paul Thompson, Frederick Harry Pitts, Jo|last=Ingold|date=2 August 2021|website=LabourList}}

Thompson has contributed to articulating and disseminating this perspective, originally linked to Harry Braverman's updating of Karl Marx's analysis of labour in capitalist production. He synthesized its foundational ideas into a 'core theory,' first outlined in 1990 and later expanded in collaboration with Chris Smith.{{Cite book|url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-20466-3_3|title=Labour Process Theory|first=Paul|last=Thompson|editor-first1=David|editor-last1=Knights|editor-first2=Hugh|editor-last2=Willmott|date=26 March 1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|pages=95–124|via=Springer Link|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-20466-3_3}}{{Cite journal|url=https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/wge/4/2/article-p145.xml|title=Labour process theory: in and beyond the core: continuities, challenges, and choices|first1=Paul|last1=Thompson|first2=Chris|last2=Smith|date=1 November 2024|journal=Work in the Global Economy|volume=4|issue=2|pages=145–169|via=bristoluniversitypressdigital.com|doi=10.1332/27324176Y2024D000000027|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038038509340728|title=Labour Power and Labour Process: Contesting the Marginality of the Sociology of Work|first1=Paul|last1=Thompson|first2=Chris|last2=Smith|date=1 October 2009|journal=Sociology|volume=43|issue=5|pages=913–930|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/0038038509340728}} He contributed in developing and internationalizing the network of researchers associated with the ILPC and has served as Convener of its Steering Group. In 2020, the conference launched its own journal, Work in the Global Economy, where he is Consulting Editor.{{Cite web|url=https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/wge/wge-overview.xml?tab_body=editorial-board|title=Work in the Global Economy|website=Bristol University Press}}

Thompson has advocated for the continued relevance of labour agency and dissent, challenging claims of their disappearance or marginalization, particularly from postmodern perspectives. He has made contributions with the concept of misbehavior at work, developed in two editions of Organisational Misbehaviour and various articles with Stephen Ackroyd.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07078552.2016.1207331|title=Dissent at work and the resistance debate: departures, directions, and dead ends*|first=Paul|last=Thompson|date=3 May 2016|journal=Studies in Political Economy |volume=97|issue=2|pages=106–123|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/07078552.2016.1207331|hdl=1893/23744|hdl-access=free}}{{Cite web|url=https://search.worldcat.org/title/1308475777|title=Organisational misbehaviour | WorldCat.org|website=search.worldcat.org}}

Thompson has worked to chart the relations between capitalist political economy and workplace regimes. The concept of disconnected capitalism aimed at explaining how shareholder value business models have undermined stable bargains between employers and workers. He identified the negative impacts of financialization, a thesis first put forward in a 2003 paper and further developed in collaborative work with Jean Cushen.{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017003017002007|title=Disconnected Capitalism: Or Why Employers Can't Keep Their Side of the Bargain|first=Paul|last=Thompson|date=1 June 2003|journal=Work, Employment and Society|volume=17|issue=2|pages=359–378|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/0950017003017002007|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017015617676|title=Financialization and value: why labour and the labour process still matter|first1=Jean|last1=Cushen|first2=Paul|last2=Thompson|date=1 April 2016|journal=Work, Employment and Society|volume=30|issue=2|pages=352–365|via=SAGE Journals|doi=10.1177/0950017015617676}}

===Books===

• The Nature of Work: An Introduction to Debates on the Labour Process (1983) ISBN 978-0333330265
• Work Organisations (1990) ISBN 978-0333437070
• Organisational Misbehaviour (1999) ISBN 978-1529780833
• The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization (2005) ISBN 978-0199299249
• Working Life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis (2010) ISBN 978-0230222236

• Thompson, P. (1990). Crawling from the wreckage: The labour process and the politics of production. In D. Knights & H. Willmott (Eds.), Labour Process Theory (pp. 95-124). Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thompson, P. (1993). Fatal distraction: Postmodernism and organisation theory. In J. Hassard & M. Parker (eds.), Postmodernism and Organisations. Sage.
• Thompson, P., & Vincent, S. (2010). Labour process theory and critical realism. In P. Thompson & C. Smith (eds.), Working life: Renewing Labour Process Analysis (pp. 47-69). Palgrave Macmillan.

• Thompson, P., & Ackroyd, S. (1995). All quiet on the workplace front? A critique of recent trends in British industrial sociology. Sociology, 29(4), 615-633.
• Thompson, P., & Wallace, T. (1996). Redesigning production through teamworking: Case studies from the Volvo Truck Corporation. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 16(2), 103-118.
• Thompson, P., Warhurst, C., & Callaghan, G. (2001). Ignorant theory and knowledgeable workers: Interrogating the connections between knowledge, skills and services. Journal of Management Studies, 38(7), 923-942.
• Callaghan, G., & Thompson, P. (2002). ‘We recruit attitude’: the selection and shaping of routine call centre labour. Journal of Management Studies, 39(2), 233-254.
• Thompson, P. (2003). Disconnected capitalism: or why employers can't keep their side of the bargain. Work, Employment and Society, 17(2), 359-378.
• Thompson, P. (2011). The trouble with HRM. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(4), 355-367.
• Thompson, P., Parker, R., & Cox, S. (2016). Interrogating creative theory and creative work: Inside the games studio. Sociology, 50(2), 316-332.
• Cushen, J., & Thompson, P. (2016). Financialization and value: why labour and the labour process still matter. Work, employment and society, 30(2), 352-365.
• Thompson, P., McDonald, P., & O’Connor, P. (2020). Employee dissent on social media and organizational discipline. Human Relations, 73(5), 631-652.
• Thompson, P., & Smith, C. (2024). Labour process theory: in and beyond the core: continuities, challenges, and choices. Work in the Global Economy, 4(2), 145-169.

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Category:Living people

Category:1951 births

Category:British sociologists

Category:Academics of the University of Stirling

Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool