John W. Budd is the Industrial Relations Land Grant Chair and Director of the Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice and The Thought of Work, also from Cornell, and Labor Relations: Striking a Balance; coauthor of Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy into Focus; and coeditor of The Ethics of Human Resources and Industrial Relations, a LERA Reserach Volume distributed by Cornell.
This is a really useful and important book for anyone working or especially teaching in the field of employment studies. . . . The book can be used in a number of ways and at different levels to teach about work. It is, for example, an excellent way to introduce students to the general subject matter of economic life. Importantly, it invites the reader to think in theoretical, conceptual and at times philosophical ways about work. . . . Budd and his publisher are to be congratulated on producing a text that will be an invaluable resource for teachers and students of sociology, philosophy, management and business, as well as other disciplines. The book deserves to be a staple on any self-respecting critical reading list on work and employment. The Thought of Work is part of a real renaissance in the interdisciplinary study of work and is to be applauded. Tim Strangleman, British Journal of Industrial Relations (March 2013)