The following is a brief review of the book:
Réinventer le travail (Le lien social)
Dominique Méda
Patricia Vendramin
Presses Universitaires de France (PUF) 2013
Work re-rediscovered[i] or
“Re-inventing work”
The book examines the history, development and transformation
of our relationship with work; how we perceive work and how we perceive ourselves
through our jobs. It uses the results of various studies, surveys and interviews
as well as available national and regional data to support its findings. The
authors of the book also back up their assumptions by quoting and building on major
literature on the topic of work from Smith and Marx to Maslow and Weber (among
others).
The book tries to unveil the expectations individuals have from
their work and how those expectations are met in the actual conditions at work,
how they change and adapt to circumstances (collective and individual), economic
conditions, family, gender and age. It questions [whether it is still
possible to reconcile the contemporary ethics of work held by women and young
people with the realities of work that is more than ever geared towards profitability
and productivity. The aim of the book is to propose a project based on the quality of
employment].[ii]
The book is divided into five chapters and flows
smoothly from one chapter to the other. It starts by telling the story of the value
we associate with work and the three dimensions of work; production factor, self-identification
factor, a system of distribution of revenue, of rights and of protection. It
then traces the development of ethics and values of work; from work as a duty
to work as a mean of self-fulfillment. This chapter also examines the social
dimension of work, how we interpret our attachment to work, its importance and its
purpose in our lives and closes by an introduction of the methodology of analysis
used throughout the book, criticizes the limitation inherited in conducting big
scale surveys but also presents the open sources of data available to
researchers.
The second, third, fourth and fifth chapters are
constructed similarly. They introduce a general theme, break it down into
specific questions and attempt to handle each of these questions through the
available research, data, surveys and interviews. Chapter two examines the tremendous
expectations from work; it studies the importance that Europeans give to work
and tries to explain variations within Europe (cultural, level of development or unemployment),
it focuses on France and compares the results with Quebec to confirm the
conclusion – that although work is central and important in France and Quebec,
however, it does not come in the first place in the priority of the majority of
people. The importance of work is linked to the socio-professional level of the
individual so that the higher the person in the career path (executives) the
higher the importance accorded to work over other aspects of life. The chapter
then looks at the predominant dimensions of work in Europe and finds a tendency
of an increased expectations that work shall lead to self-fulfillment on the
account of the relative decline of the concept “work is a duty” while the inherited
“instrumental” aspect that work is a mean of providing security, revenue, protection
and social promotion” remain stable.
Chapter three looks at the expectations from work in
the face of the changing labour realities. It explores the new forms of work
(the non-standard work relations, the flexibility and insecurity they bring), the
change of the work relations and individualism; the authors argue that these
new forms with the autonomy they bring could be viewed as new forms of workers
exploitation “auto-exploitation” with increased working hours and difficulties
in measuring time while the professional responsibilities are only higher. They
also argue that [hierarchy in the work place is not less in the new forms, it is
rather disguised in business objectives, clients indicators and other
indicators that the new information technology introduced][iii]
so the promise of self-fulfillment is not necessary met and the new forms of
work bring more stress and psychological risks. The book then looks at the
changes of qualifications that the new labour realities bring and tries to
assess the notions of competencies and employability. The chapter concludes by
a comparison of the concepts “work quality” and “work meaning” and brings the
European concept of “quality of employment” against the ILO concept of “decent
work”.
Chapter four studies the importance of work among
generations in Europe through the research data available. In one approach it divides
the relationship to work into four models to group workers accordingly by age,
gender, family situation and other factors. The four models are: 1. Work as an
obstacle 2. Work as a mean to earn money 3. Work as a support for personal development
and 4. Work as a pillar of identity. The authors then question whether the
youth in Europe are different than their ancestors. They trace the implications
of education and feminization on generation Y and conclude that this generation’s
relation to work is polycentric yet homogeneous.
The final chapter studies the relations at work
between the younger and older generations; the coexistence at the workplace and
job market. It looks at attitudes towards the other from both sides, the
perceptions and stereotypes. It is this chapter that uses the individual
surveys to convey an opinion of each generation. It brings many aspects in
question such as the different use of information and communication technology
between different generation, the knowledge and experience, the insecurity of
work conditions and how they come into play in the intergenerational work
relations. The issue of transfer of knowledge is discussed in this chapter and
the question of innovation versus experience, as well as hostile attitudes in
the workplace.
The book concludes by restating the importance of
understanding the expectations we place on work, how it affects our lives and
relations and even the way we identify ourselves. It leaves a question open:
how can work be re-invented and hopes it will be able to bring prosperity, sustainability
and integration with the environment, to build an alliance between workers and
consumers that can satisfy all basic needs and reconcile with work.
The book of Méda and Vendramin is a rich source of
information and a good well rounded introduction to the concept of work in
Europe and its development. The literature reviewed and presented, especially
in the first chapter, gives the topic its merit of multi disciplinary attention.
The authors brings ideas from economics, management, sociology, demography,
psychology, business, human resources, philosophy, anthropology, politics and
other fields of human sciences all together in this book and demonstrate the
importance of the topic and its relevant to our lives. The authors do not
attempt to answer all questions or justify a presupposed position. Rather, they
invite us to consider the issues by presenting the research results and national
data and only propose their point of view in light of the data. As many of the
research used in the book are openly available, the book offers an open ended project
to study, evaluate and rethink the notion of work.
[i] Un-official translation of
the title. Literal translation would be “Reinventing Work”
[ii] Loose Translatation from French
from the excerpt at the back of the book “Est-il finalement possible de
réconcilier l’ethos contemporain du travail, porté notamment par les femmes et
les jeunes, et des organisations de plus en plus soumises aux impératifs de
rentabilité et de productivité, en proposant un projet européen fondé sur la
qualité de l’emploi?” Réinventer le travail, Dominique Méda & Patricia
Vendramin, Le Lien Social, PUF 2013
[iii]
P121
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