Dr McGovern, Reader, joined the LSE in 1996 from Aston University, Birmingham, where he was a lecturer in sociology. He holds a doctorate in sociology from Oxford University (Nuffield College) along with First Class degrees in Sociology (BSc) and Industrial Relations (MSc) from University College, Dublin.
Pat specialises in two areas: economic sociology, especially the sociology of work and labour markets, and international migration. In relation to the sociology of work, he is currently focusing on theoretical developments within employment relations, especially those within the 'critical'/Marxist and rational choice traditions. His current research in migration includes an innovative comparative project on immigration and social mobility as well as the creation of an index of immigration policy restrictiveness with colleagues from the LSE's Migration Studies Unit (http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/MSU/|).
His most recent book, Market, Class, and Employment (OUP), challenges much of the received wisdom about the world of work, including claims concerning the marketization of the employment relationship, the decline of class-based forms of inequality, and the individualization of employment relations. The empirical research, which was based on two major ESRC-Funded Future of Work grants, was the result of eight years of collaborative work with colleagues from the University of Oxford, Royal Holloway (University of London) and the Policy Studies Institute.
Dr McGovern's teaching includes graduate and undergraduate courses in the sociology of work and a graduate seminar in qualitative methods. He is willing to supervise students in any of his areas of interest provided that the research is theoretically informed and empirically oriented (qualitative or quantitative). Prospective students should contact him at p.mcgovern@lse.ac.uk|.
Pat is a member of the American Sociological Association, the British Universities Industrial Relations Association, the British Sociological Association and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. He has served on the editorial board of the BSA journal Work, Employment & Society, as Associate Editor of The British Journal of Sociology and Reviews Editor for the British Journal of Industrial Relations. Pat was an academic visitor at Princeton University during 2006-07.
Selected Publications
BOOKS
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Market, Class, and Employment, (with Stephen Hill, Colin Mills, and Michael White).
Oxford University Press, 2007.
ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
'Immigration, Labour Markets and Employment Relations: Problems and Prospects', British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45 (2). (2007): 217-235.
'Bad Jobs in Britain: Non-Standard Employment and Job Quality', (with Deborah Smeaton and Stephen Hill) Work and Occupations, 31, 2 (2004): 225-249.
'Rational Choice Theory, The 'New Economic Sociology' and Functionalism', Work, Employment & Society 17, 4 (2003): 747-756
'High Performance Management Practices, Working Hours and Work-Life Balance', (with Stephen Hill, Colin Mills, Deborah Smeaton and Michael White), British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41, 2 (2003): 175-195.
HRM, Technical Workers and the Multinational Corporation, London: Routledge, 1998.