Accounts of recent developments of work organization in the UK are often organized around ‘optimistic’ (improving levels of skills and training, and better communication at the workplace) and ‘pessimistic’ (increased levels of effort and stress, work intensification, a ‘representation gap’) scenarios. Not surprisingly, research fails to support either of these extreme views. But it is not satisfactory to conclude that the picture is mixed and messy. It is also necessary to address the relationship between the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’ aspects of work experience, for they often go together. Autonomy and commitment, discipline and pressure, are two sides of the employment relationship, and the issue is not whether one or the other is predominant but how they are re-organized.

The paper reviews the evidence in terms of autonomy and skill; insecurity and pressure; and representation and voice. It also aims to put the contemporary situation in historical context, arguing against the view (often shared in the optimistic and pessimist camps) that the current conjuncture marks a break from all previous experience.