Ballardie, Ruth and Moore, Sian (2026) The rhythm of the night: night work and the destabilisation of social reproduction. Economic and Industrial Democracy (EID). pp. 1-26. ISSN 0143-831X (Print), 1461-7099 (Online) (doi:10.1177/0143831X261425)

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Abstract

The article locates contemporary night work in Social Reproduction Theory. It makes an empirical contribution, illuminating Fraser’s conceptual ‘crisis of social reproduction’, rooted in worker experience and invigorated through testimony. Drawing on interviews with night workers, largely from the rail and postal sectors, it evidences the compression of social reproductive time. Firstly, night work undermines the replenishment of the human body and labour power and the qualitative nature of time for life as a social being. Secondly, workers’ preference for night work to facilitate caring responsibilities confirms the withdrawal of state and employer support for childcare and capitalism’s impulse to lower the cost of the reproduction of labour. Those who cannot afford to pay for childcare absorb these costs at an individual level by working unsocial hours where they struggle to combine productive and domestic labour within the 24-hour day – the subjugation of social reproduction to production under neoliberal capitalism.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	See also NHS report: https://www.nhsbmenetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/nightworkresearchreport.pdf
Uncontrolled Keywords:	night work; social reproduction; workers' health
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Greenwich Business School Greenwich Business School > Centre for Research on Employment and Work (CREW) Greenwich Business School > Centre for Research on Employment and Work (CREW) > Diversity Interest Group (DiG) Greenwich Business School > School of Management and Marketing
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2026 10:52
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/50436

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