THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK

Question 1

What are the issues with defining work as ‘paid labour’?

Answer 1

Despite capitalism being unable to function without paid labour, there is the issue of ‘unpaid labour’

eg (marxist) feminists

‘Wages for housework’
Division of Productive and Reproductive labour
Public and Private sphere

Question 2

What are the issues with defining work as ‘productive labour?’

Answer 2

• A lot of things we do in the workplace aren’t always directly linked to production
• ‘Cyberloafing’ (using social media in empty time in offices)
• A lot of bosses can’t tell whether we’re working or not

Question 3

What quote did Adams (2006) state that links to the idea of productive labour?

Answer 3

‘Corporations hum along no matter who is sick, vacationing, or recently dead.’ (ADAMS 2006)

Question 4

Can university be defined as work?

Answer 4

• We aren’t paid (in fact WE pay for the privilege!) but we produce value for the university

(eg league tables are constructed on amounts of 2:1s and 1sts)

• Reveals how work doesn’t always constitute wages
• It has a further social meaning beyond economic/ production value

Question 5

How does Adams (1996) define work?

Answer 5

‘Work can be defined as anything you’d rather not be doing’ (ADAMS 1996)

Question 6

What are factors of new forms of work deemed ‘desirable?’

Answer 6

• Ability to be creative
• Autonomous
• Flexible (hours, schedule)
• Playful (team building, trips, toys in office etc)

Question 7

What are factors of new forms of work deemed ‘UNdesirable’?

Answer 7

• Low wages (economic value)
• Zero hour contracts (instability of work pattern)
• Precarious (cannot see stability 5/10 years into the future)
• Personalised risk (company problems can affect you personally)

Question 8

Who wrote ‘The New Spirit of Capitalism’ in 1999?

Answer 8

Boltanski and Chiapello (1999)

Question 9

What influence do Boltanski and Chiapello follow?

Answer 9

A post marxist influence

problems in the nature of contemporary capitalism are different in modern day = cannot apply Marx/ Weber

Question 10

When did they argue this new ideology of capitalism came about?
(new spirit)

Answer 10

• Mid 1970s, capitalism abandoned the hierarchical Fordist work structure

Question 11

What was this ‘new network of organisation’ founded on?

new spirit

Answer 11

• Employee initiative and autonomy in the work place

Question 12

This created a ‘supposed freedom’ bought on the cost of..?

new spirit

Answer 12

• Material and psychological security.
  Which was in tune with the libertarian and romantics currents of the period (eg dressed down, cool capitalists such as Bill Gates)

Question 13

It is described as what kind of exploitation?

new spirit

Answer 13

Successful, gradual and subtle

Question 14

Why is the new spirit of capitalism described as two sides of the same coin?

Answer 14

As what is deemed to be ‘desirable’ eg individual autonomy, flexible working hours
can also lead to it’s criticisms such as blurring of work/home boundaries

Question 15

What is the ‘knowledge economy’?

Answer 15

• Major changes in the Western economy since mid twentieth century

Question 16

What are the 4 major changes in the Western world contributing to the change into a ‘knowledge economy’?

Answer 16

1) AUTOMATION
(machines over manual labour)

2) DE INDUSTRIALISATION
(movement of industrial work in developing countries and then imported to Western World (eg fast fashion factories) = contribute to fewer manual jobs

3) EXPANSION THEN STABILISATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR
(introduction of NHS/ non manual jobs/ expansion of civil sector = teachers etc)

4) EXPANSION THEN STABILISATION OF THE SERVICE INDUSTRIES
(more jobs in retail etc as people become wealthier)

Question 17

What did all these changes (knowledge economy) affect?

Answer 17

Education.
UK it was only the ELITE that went to university 
(3.4% of under 30s in 1950s)
This transformed to the MASS
(49% of under 30s in 2017)

Question 18

What explains these changes to education?

Answer 18

Growing middle class lifestyles in the postwar period led to higher aspirations for children =UNI
Also the massive changes in the economy equate to massive changes in work (more jobs)

Question 19

What are some ‘leisure like’ features of knowledge work? (1-3)

Answer 19

1) BLURRING OF HOME/ WORK/ COFFEE SHOP
(eg checking emails outside of work) work does not belong to one period of time or physical space)

2) FLEXIBLE WORKING PATTERNS
(not always 9-5 jobs. Rise of technology means constant access to internet// different availability times)

3) PAY BY TASKS PERFORMED NOT HOURS WORKED

Question 20

What are some other ‘leisure like’ features of knowledge work? (4-7)

Answer 20

4) TOYS/ PLAY/ GAMIFICATION
(work should be fun, blurring of leisure/work)

5) EMOTIONAL LABOUR
(the managed heart: commercialisation of the human feeling Arlie Hothschild 1973) Apparent in retail/ hospitality eg LUSH

6) AUTONOMY
(independent, choosing when to work, not constantly being monitored to check)

7) LOCATION IN AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ARTS
(more creative/ desirable)

ALL THESE CONTRIBUTE TO THIS NEW IDEOLOGY OF CAPITALISM

Question 21

What are the 3 stages of capitalism? (that have developed into each other?)

Answer 21

1) Entrepreneurial capitalism (1800s-1920s)
(early, Marx/ Weber. Proletariat/ Bourgeoisie)

2) Managerial Capitalism (1900s-1980s)
(critique of individualism (eg every man to himself)
(standardisation - 9-5 jobs/ collectivism/ security)

3) Network capitalism
(critique of standardisation, as it blurs people collectively.
Saw liberation through autonomy and creativity (an emotional love for your job)

Question 22

What is the quote by Boltanski and Chiapello that describes this development in capitalism?

Answer 22

It is ‘offering them a certain form of liberation that masks new types of oppression’

Question 23

Who wrote ‘The Precariat’ in 2011?

Answer 23

Guy Standing

Question 24

What do the changes we have just discussed cause?

Answer 24

Create a global class distinct from the
PLUTOCRACY (elite) = income + power
SALARIAT (secure employment, paid holidays)
OLD PROLETARIAT (working class of 20th C)
and PRECARIAT (or precarious workers, millions of people)
just above the UNDERCLASS

Question 25

Define 3 types of precariats

Answer 25

1) ASTARIAT
(= older workers, looking back to relatives. Miners workers etc)
(existential insecurity, unstable labour/ living = if not done will suffer consequences)

2) HAS TO RELY ON MONEY WAGES
(= no pensions, no paid holidays, no medical leave)
ALWAYS ON THE EDGE OF UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT
(= one mistake = out on the streets)

3) Systematically losing the ‘great rights’
(eg civil, cultural, political rights)
- No parties/ politicians represent their interests and aspirations
- Losing economic rights because they cannot do what they are qualified to do

(THIS IS DESIRED BY GLOBAL CAPITALISM)

Question 26

This disparate group (Precariats) include…

Answer 26

• Recent graduates (future is defined by debt. Looking for
  politics of paradise)
• Migrants (nostalgists, no sense of home, head down to survive)
• Young mothers
• Older workers with manual skills (look back towards entrepreneurial capitalism/ standardisation/ workers rights)

Question 27

What does Guy Standing suggest we do to tackle the issue of the precariat?

Answer 27

• Build a new income distribution system based on different principles
• Take back rental income from the PLUTOCRACY and use for a basic income strategy
• Basic income does not equate to laziness = encourages people to work harder
• More altruistic (more inclined to engage in society)

Question 28

What does Guy claim insecurity causes?

Answer 28

The anxiety of the unknown causes people to lose the capacity to think rationally (turn to radical politics such as Trump)

Question 29

Key reading associated with ‘Why it’s not just about money’

Answer 29

CORDELIA HAY (2015)
What do low paid workers think would improve their working lives?

Question 30

What does Hay (2015) argue workers wanted?

Answer 30

Workers wanted more FLEXIBILITY (eg if you had caring responsibilities) and wanted more SECURITY

Question 31

What does Hay (2015) argue about pay?

Answer 31

Pay was important, but also connected to broader considerations of RECOGNITION and WORTH

• They felt LUCKY to have work and this fed into a reluctance to ask for different conditions

Question 32

SUMMARY

Answer 32

• Radically different work conditions may have more in common than we think
• For Boltanski and Chiapello, they are conditioned by a change in capitalist ideology which stresses AUTONOMY, INITIATIVE and the INDIVIDUAL
• This is NOT a straightforward progress or regression, but indicative of capitalism’s constant movement