The changing nature of work

Question 1

How can work be defined?

Answer 1

paid labour
productive labour
study
something you don’t enjoy

Question 2

How can the idea that work needs to be paid be criticised?

Answer 2

Capitalism cannot function without unpaid labour – women’s work in the domestic sphere, reproductive labour, pointed out by feminists

Question 3

How can the idea that study is work be criticised?

Answer 3

You aren’t paid (in fact you pay for the privilege!) but you produce value for the university

Question 4

How can the idea that work needs to be unenjoyable be criticised?

Answer 4

A lot of people feel like a whole life without work seems meaningless, never mind if we are paid or not

Question 5

what are 4 characteristics of desirable work?

Answer 5

creative
autonomous
flexible
playful

Question 6

what are 4 characteristics of undesirable work?

Answer 6

low wage
zero hours
precarious
personalised risk

Question 7

when did Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello publish the New Spirit of Capialism?

Answer 7

1999

Question 8

who published the New Spirit of Capialism?

Answer 8

Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello

Question 9

how did Boltanski and Chiapello conduct their study?

Answer 9

Read through management manuals about how best to produce an efficient worker

Question 10

how can the new economy be described?

Answer 10

knowledge economy

Question 11

what major changes since the twentieth century have changed the economy? (4)

Answer 11

Automation
•De-industrialisation
•Expansion during the post war period than stabilisation of the public sector
•Expansion than stabilisation of the service industries

Question 12

what is automation?

Answer 12

manual working class jobs replaced by machines

Question 13

what happened to create de-industrialisation?

Answer 13

influence of globalisation, industries now take place in developing countries and the goods are imported

Question 14

what percentage of the under 30s population went to uni in 1950?

Answer 14

3.4%

Question 15

what percentage of the under 30s population went to uni in 2017?

Answer 15

49%

Question 16

how can the mass expansion of the uni system be explained? (2)

Answer 16

•more jobs require better education, more aspirations for individuals

Question 17

what are the leisure like features of knowledge work? (7)

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

what 3 spirits of capitalism did Boltanski and Chiapello identify?

Answer 18

entrepreneurial
managerial
network

Question 19

when did entrepreneurial capitalism take place?

Answer 19

1800s-1920s

Question 20

what did entrepreneurial capitalism critique?

Answer 20

‘traditional’ societies

Question 21

how did entrepreneurial capitalism see liberation occurring? (2)

Answer 21

Market

Choice

Question 22

what was the philosophy of entrepreneurial capitalism? (2)

Answer 22

Enlightenment

Liberalism

Question 23

what were the methods of entrepreneurial capitalism?

Answer 23

Entrepreneurialism

Question 24

what is the protestant work ethic?

Answer 24

emphasised hard work, frugality and discipline, especially due to strand of protestantism called Calvinism

Question 25

when did managerial capitalism take place?

Answer 25

1900-1980s

Question 26

what did managerial capitalism critique? (4)

Answer 26

Austerity Inequality Individualism Overproduction

Question 27

how did managerial capitalism see liberation occurring? (4)

Answer 27

through Standardisation Security Consumption State control

Question 28

what was the philosophy of managerial capitalism? (2)

Answer 28

Collectivism | Keynesianism

Question 29

what is Keynesian economics?

Answer 29

active role of government in welfare

Question 30

what were the methods of managerial capitalism? (2)

Answer 30

Fordism | Taylorism

Question 31

what is Fordism?

Answer 31

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

Question 32

what is Taylorism?

Answer 32

the attempt to make business decisions on the basis of data that is researched and tested quantitatively

Question 33

what was the subjecthood of managerial capitalism?

Answer 33

consumer-citizen

Question 34

when did network capitalism take place?

Answer 34

1960s-present

Question 35

what does network capitalism critique? (2)

Answer 35

Dehumanisation | Consumer society

Question 36

how does network capitalism see liberation occurring? (4)

Answer 36

Autonomy Flexibility Creativity Individualism

Question 37

what is the philosophy of network capitalism?

Answer 37

post-modernism

Question 38

what are the methods of network capitalism? (2)

Answer 38

Project work | Career fluidity

Question 39

what is the subjecthood of network capitalism?

Answer 39

'self-starter'

Question 40

when did Guy Standing publish the Precariat?

Answer 40

2011

Question 41

what is Standing's novel called?

Answer 41

The Precariat

Question 42

what is the precariat?

Answer 42

a global class distinct from the proletariat: precarious workers

Question 43

who is included within the precariat? (4)

Answer 43

recent graduates, migrants, young mothers, older workers with manual skills

Question 44

what defines the precariat? (2)

Answer 44

Instability of work and identity, feeling of anxiety

Question 45

when did Hay publish "What do low-paid workers think would improve their working lives?”?

Answer 45

2015

Question 46

how did Hay carry out her study on low-paid workers?

Answer 46

Carried out focus groups with those on zero hour contracts in retail, hospitality and care work

Question 47

what did Hay find in relation to what the low-paid workers wanted?

Answer 47

Workers valued flexibility but wanted more security

Question 48

what did Hay find in relation to pay for the low-paid workers?

Answer 48

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

Question 49

why did the low-paid workers feel reluctant to ask for different conditions?

Answer 49

felt lucky to have work