The jobless future : sci-tech and the dogma of work

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Bibliographic Information

The jobless future : sci-tech and the dogma of work

Stanley Aronowitz and William DiFazio

University of Minnesota Press, c1994

  • : hc
  • : pb

Available at  / 24 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: hc ISBN 9780816621934

Description

"The Jobless Future" challenges the beliefs about the utopian promise of a knowledge-based, high technology economy. Reviewing a vast body of encouraging literature about the post-industrial age, Aronowitz and DiFazio conclude that neither theory, history, nor contemporary evidence warrants optimism about a technological economic order. Instead, they demonstrate, the shift toward a massive displacement of employees at all levels and a large-scale degradation of the labour force. As they clearly chart a major change in the nature, scope, and amount of paid work, the authors suggest that notions of justice and the good life based on full employment must change radically as well. They close by proposing alternatives to our dying job culture that might help us sustain ourselves and maintain our well-being in a science-based, technological economic future. One alternative discussed is reducing the work day so that fewer hours are worked with pay remaining constant.

Table of Contents

  • The new knowledge work
  • techno-culture and the future of work
  • the end of skill?
  • the computerized engineer and architect
  • the professionalized scientist
  • contradictions of the knowledge class - power, proletarianization, and intellectuals
  • unions and the future of professional work
  • a taxonomy of teacher work
  • the cultural construction of class - knowledge and the labour process
  • quantum measures - capital investment and job reduction
  • the jobless future?
Volume

: pb ISBN 9780816621941

Description

Examining the job market of the future this book goes behind the headlines to challenge the idea that a high-tech economy will provide high-paying jobs for all who want them. The authors demonstrate that continued layoffs and job displacements are more likely. Reviewing a vast body of encouraging literature about the post-industrial age, Aronowitz and DiFazio conclude that neither theory, history, nor contemporary evidence warrants optimism about a technological economic order. Instead, they demonstrate the shift toward a massive displacement of employees at all levels and a large-scale degradation of the labour force. As they clearly chart a major change in the nature, scope and amount of paid work, the authors suggest that notions of justice and the good life based on full employment must change radically as well. They close by proposing alternatives to our dying job culture that might help us sustain ourselves and maintain our well-being in a science-based, technological economic future. One alternative discussed is reducing the work day so that fewer hours are worked with pay remaining constant.

Table of Contents

  • The new knowledge work
  • techno-culture and the future of work
  • the end of skill?
  • the computerized engineer and architect
  • the professionalized scientist
  • contradictions of the knowledge class - power, proletarianization, and intellectuals
  • unions and the future of professional work
  • a taxonomy of teacher work
  • the cultural construction of class - knowledge and the labour process
  • quantum measures - capital investment and job reduction
  • the jobless future?

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