Sam Scott - Labour Exploitation and Work-Based Harm

First published in Great Britain in 2017 by

Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail

North American office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press 1427 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 f: +1 773-702-9756 e:

Policy Press 2017

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ISBN 978-1-4473-2203-0 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-4473-2207-8 ePub
ISBN 978-1-4473-2208-5 Mobi
ISBN 978-1-4473-2206-1 ePDF

The right of Sam Scott to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Front cover image: Getty
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The nine poems, at the start of each of the nine chapters, are those of Jenny Wrangborg (Wrangborg, 2013) from her collection published in Swedish entitled Kitchen (translated into English by Freke Rih). Details of Jennys poetry can be found at: www.jennywrangborg.se/blogg/in-english/

Sam Scott is a senior lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK. He began researching issues around labour exploitation and work-based harm via three evaluation reports for the UK Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA). These were followed by a Nuffield Foundation small grant looking at employer perspectives on low-wage migrant labour use, two Joseph Rowntree Foundation grants focused on forced labour in the UK and then an Economic and Social Research Council follow-on grant to consolidate this work. The research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation inspired this book.

This book would not have been possible without the support of my employer (University of Gloucestershire), work colleagues and family. Thank you, most of all, to Dagmara Scott for putting up with me throughout the long planning and writing process. This book would not have been completed without your love and support. Thanks also to Duncan Scott, Wendy Scott and Hannah Scott for always being there to put things into perspective. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Jenny Wrangborg who has allowed me to use her inspirational poems at the start of each chapter (see Wrangborg, 2013). This book could also not have come to fruition without the work and encouragement of Christina Pantazis and Simon Pemberton. Of course, the team at Policy Press also deserve a special mention too, particularly Rebecca Tomlinson, Kathryn King and Ruth Harrison. As do the anonymous reviewers who commented on earlier drafts of this book. Thank you also to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for funding two research projects Experiences of forced labour in the UK food industry (Scott et al, 2012) and The scope of forced labour in the UK (Geddes et al, 2013) that helped to inspire this book and to Dr Alistair Geddes, Professor Gary Craig and the 11 community researchers who worked with me on these two projects. Follow-on funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/J020567/1) gave me time away from teaching to build upon the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research and to plan this book. Others who helped with ideas and suggestions along the way include Dr Alex Balch and Roger Plant. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to Dave Holman (19772016), a dear friend, who Ill always remember for his warmth, compassion and humour. We miss you, Dave.

This is the third book to be published in the Studies in Social Harm series a series which was established to provide a holistic and multi-disciplinary focus on social harms. When harms such as pollution, violence and poverty to name a few are researched from academic disciplinary silos we are often left with partial and distorted assessments of social problems. When such harms are explained solely or predominantly in terms of individual calculus or failure, we fail to connect the manufacture, re-production, and re-configuration of harms to wider social structures and processes. Consequently, we misrecognise how social harms can be prevented by identifying the most relevant policy changes and interventions that are required for the improvement of peoples well-being. The series Studies in Social Harm, through a blending of new theoretical and conceptual frameworks, methods, and empirical research, aims to address and rebut these omnipresent short-sightings within contemporary social sciences analyses.