Loading...
Employment and concepts of work in the new global economy
Kelly, G. M.
Kelly, G. M.
Author(s)
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Collections
Files
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"We approach the end of a century of upheaval whose beginning is extraordinarily remote. Amid conditions of total war and mass horror, the nineteenthcentury political firmament was smashed and new paradigms emerged. Concurrent transformation took place in the circumstances of daily life. At least in the developed world, technical innovation in the household liberated women from culturally determined domestic drudgery and fostered their integration into the world of men. That world — beginning with the transatlantic community — was also revolutionized. Mechanization engineered a human desertification of the countryside. The Industrial Revolution had already given momentum to that transition, and created the iron cage of regimented employment, as Taylorism structured the lives and blunted the sensibilities of factory workers. Ultimately, capitalism became less oppressive, until sanguine observers spoke of the century of the common man. But advanced technology now assumed the role of an industrial proletariat in a post-industrial world; human labour was being ousted from industry even as new, uncertain avenues of employment began to emerge. And the ways that were first Europe’s became the ways of the world. Technology globalized its consequences, with startling reductionist effects. The twentieth century was a century of surprise. This inquiry looks toward the future from the vantage point of the twentiethcentury experience. The shock of the past forewarns against confidence in extrapolation, but it is important to make the attempt. The focus of attention may be identified by two questions: (a) on the basis that technological and structural dynamism are likely to be sustained, at very least, at the pace set during the past century, what is in prospect for the conventional world of work; and (b) if the indications are that human labour may have a dramatically shrinking role as a factor of production, what are the implications for contemporary concepts of work — the accumulated baggage of work-related beliefs? The inquiry is necessarily speculative but is not intended as polemical. There is no ideological assumption for or against the existence of a fundamental personal, social or religious value in respect of work. The argument begins by noting the historical development of contemporary concepts of work. Attention then turns to assessment of global employment prospects — is orthodox confidence in the possibility of full employment (however defined) still justified or does emerging evidence suggest the probability of an employment collapse? Finally, the article considers the erosive implications for present-day concepts of work if, as a secular trend, a large proportion of available and intending workers can no longer be absorbed in the labour market. There is a threshold question of definition. Within its generic meaning, “work” has many connotations. Some are far removed from understandings of the kind of work known as “employment” — the focus for present purposes. The narrower term raises its own difficulties. It is normally associated with work that is essentially contractual and has an essential purpose of reward. But how does that sit, for instance, with self-employment that is wholly or substantially indifferent to market criteria? Except as is otherwise apparent in the text, the dilemmas are evaded by reading down “work” as “employment” in its ordinary meaning and ignoring the debatable margins.", p. 5-6
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Article
Date
2000
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder