Transformation of Labor, Part I

I read a fascinating article but I can’t link because it’s in Russian, so I’ll retell. 

In fluid societies, the very nature of labor has changed. Here is what paid work is now like:

– the barriers between work time and private time are eroded. You are now expected to be available to clients and employers / employees 24/7 with no breaks.

– most jobs are in the service sector. 

– you need to invest a lot of time and effort into creating your personal brand because the main tool of your labor is your self. This self needs to be kept attractive and constantly appealing to potential buyers. 

– precarization, unpredictability, lack of control. 

– more and more people see work as solitary and isolated toiling in their own houses. There is no labor union and often no collectivity.

– much of the work is unpaid.

– it’s impossible for workers to plan their own lives because they have no control over where they might need to move next.

There are many people, though, for whom none of this is new. They have been working like this forever. Who are these people?

Women. This is a description of what women’s work in the traditional family is like. 

7 thoughts on “Transformation of Labor, Part I

  1. Nice insight. Which just reinforces the idea that that everyone should resist this transformation of labor instead of passively accepting it as inevitable concomitant of a brave new liquid world.

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    1. The original article makes this case a lot more strongly. There is this whole idea of merging work and identity where the end result is that you don’t really need to get paid for your work because why should anybody pay you for being who you are?

      An erosion of the boundary between self and work leads to a complete commodification of the human body that is done voluntarily and not even in exchange for money.

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    2. I don’t know how it is among people of other professions but among academics merging the work persona with one’s very identity as an individual is very common. As a result, look at our ridiculously stagnant wages. Because why should anybody pay us more for doing what we can’t live without?

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      1. In fact your descriptions sounds so much like academia that I thought you’d say academics are used to working like this forever, not women!

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