The Politics and Ethics of Contemporary Work

Whither Work?

Keith Breen, Jean-Philippe Deranty

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780429516542
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Bringing together leading international scholars within the fields of social and political theory and philosophy, this book explores how we should understand work and its role(s) in our lives and wider society.

What challenges are posed by work in our changing economy and the new economic forms that are beginning to emerge, and how can we best address these challenges? In what ways do patterns of working, as well as work technologies, shape people's lives within and outside work, in particular their life opportunities and their social and natural environment? How might we organize—or seek to reorganize—workplaces so that the experience of work better reflects our shared ethical ideals and normative principles? This volume examines these vital questions in a comprehensive and systematic manner in order to provide much needed theoretical insight and practical guidance in reflecting on the nature, problems, and possibilities of work currently.

This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students and established academics in the areas of contemporary political theory and philosophy, social theory, legal philosophy, labour studies, the sociology of work, practical ethics, critical theory, and political activism.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Whither work? The politics and ethics of contemporary work
• 2 Work as a realm of social freedom
• 3 The future of meaningfulness in work, organizations, and systems
• 4 Work and human nature in Hegel and Marx
• 5 Leisure and respect for working people
• 6 Contesting the work-spend cycle: the liberal egalitarian case against consumerism
• 7 No masters above: testing five arguments for self-employment
• 8 Automation, basic income, and merit
• 9 Marginal liberalism
• 10 Workplace democracy and republican freedom
• 11 Democratizing workplaces from below: beyond workplace republicanism
• 12 A just transition to a sustainable economy: green political economy, labour republicanism, and the liberation from economic growth
• 13 Democratic work: grounds, models, and implications
• 14 Proletarian democracy: what can we learn from the Soviet experience?
• 15 Open borders and (post-)work
• Index