The changing nature of work Flashcards
How can work be defined?
paid labour
productive labour
study
something you don’t enjoy
How can the idea that work needs to be paid be criticised?
Capitalism cannot function without unpaid labour – women’s work in the domestic sphere, reproductive labour, pointed out by feminists
How can the idea that study is work be criticised?
You aren’t paid (in fact you pay for the privilege!) but you produce value for the university
How can the idea that work needs to be unenjoyable be criticised?
A lot of people feel like a whole life without work seems meaningless, never mind if we are paid or not
what are 4 characteristics of desirable work?
creative
autonomous
flexible
playful
what are 4 characteristics of undesirable work?
low wage
zero hours
precarious
personalised risk
when did Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello publish the New Spirit of Capialism?
1999
who published the New Spirit of Capialism?
Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello
how did Boltanski and Chiapello conduct their study?
Read through management manuals about how best to produce an efficient worker
how can the new economy be described?
knowledge economy
what major changes since the twentieth century have changed the economy? (4)
Automation
•De-industrialisation
•Expansion during the post war period than stabilisation of the public sector
•Expansion than stabilisation of the service industries
what is automation?
manual working class jobs replaced by machines
what happened to create de-industrialisation?
influence of globalisation, industries now take place in developing countries and the goods are imported
what percentage of the under 30s population went to uni in 1950?
3.4%
what percentage of the under 30s population went to uni in 2017?
49%
how can the mass expansion of the uni system be explained? (2)
•more jobs require better education, more aspirations for individuals
what are the leisure like features of knowledge work? (7)
- Blurring of home/work/coffee shop boundary
- Flexible working patterns
- Pay by tasks performed, not hours worked
- Toys/play/gamification
- Emotional labour – especially true in hospitality/retail
- Autonomy
- Location in areas associated with the arts
what 3 spirits of capitalism did Boltanski and Chiapello identify?
entrepreneurial
managerial
network
when did entrepreneurial capitalism take place?
1800s-1920s
what did entrepreneurial capitalism critique?
‘traditional’ societies
how did entrepreneurial capitalism see liberation occurring? (2)
Market
Choice
what was the philosophy of entrepreneurial capitalism? (2)
Enlightenment
Liberalism
what were the methods of entrepreneurial capitalism?
Entrepreneurialism
what is the protestant work ethic?
emphasised hard work, frugality and discipline, especially due to strand of protestantism called Calvinism
when did managerial capitalism take place?
1900-1980s
what did managerial capitalism critique? (4)
Austerity
Inequality
Individualism
Overproduction
how did managerial capitalism see liberation occurring? (4)
through Standardisation
Security
Consumption
State control
what was the philosophy of managerial capitalism? (2)
Collectivism
Keynesianism
what is Keynesian economics?
active role of government in welfare
what were the methods of managerial capitalism? (2)
Fordism
Taylorism
what is Fordism?
a model of economic expansion and technological progress based on mass production: the manufacture of standardized products in huge volumes using special purpose machinery and unskilled labor
what is Taylorism?
the attempt to make business decisions on the basis of data that is researched and tested quantitatively
what was the subjecthood of managerial capitalism?
consumer-citizen
when did network capitalism take place?
1960s-present
what does network capitalism critique? (2)
Dehumanisation
Consumer society
how does network capitalism see liberation occurring? (4)
Autonomy
Flexibility
Creativity
Individualism
what is the philosophy of network capitalism?
post-modernism
what are the methods of network capitalism? (2)
Project work
Career fluidity
what is the subjecthood of network capitalism?
‘self-starter’
when did Guy Standing publish the Precariat?
2011
what is Standing’s novel called?
The Precariat
what is the precariat?
a global class distinct from the proletariat: precarious workers
who is included within the precariat? (4)
recent graduates, migrants, young mothers, older workers with manual skills
what defines the precariat? (2)
Instability of work and identity, feeling of anxiety
when did Hay publish “What do low-paid workers think would improve their working lives?”?
2015
how did Hay carry out her study on low-paid workers?
Carried out focus groups with those on zero hour contracts in retail, hospitality and care work
what did Hay find in relation to what the low-paid workers wanted?
Workers valued flexibility but wanted more security
what did Hay find in relation to pay for the low-paid workers?
Pay was important, but also connected to broader considerations of recognition and worth eg care work felt valued by society, despite it being physically and emotionally exhausting
why did the low-paid workers feel reluctant to ask for different conditions?
felt lucky to have work
