Work of the Future: Global Perspectives

Hailed only a quarter of a century ago as a paradise for male white workers, Australia is now experiencing the unravelling of its social compact. The days of full employment and job stability are over, supplanted by record levels of unemployment and employment. As with all developed economies, the nature of paid work within Australian society is the subject of profound uncertainty. Work of the future places Australia's predicament firmly within global experiences of the changing nature of work. It features an impressive line-up of Australian and overseas authors, such as Walter F Veit on the history of socio-political thinking about work, Alain Lipietz on the emerging global hierarchy, Bob Gregory on patterns of employment in Australia and the US, Iain Campbell on the nature of working time, Belinda Probert on the future of work for women, Bernhard Wilpert on the cultural crisis of mass unemployment, and Paul James and Steve Wright on the possiblities to come. Importantly, Work of the Future does not rest with the theoretical. Case studies drawn from Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada are provided by Carla Lipsig-Mumme, Hans Schmid, Bert Rurup and Klaus Neuhoff. Contributors among the best placed to effect policy in Australia, Barry Jones, Bert Evans, Hugh Morgan, John Langmore and Simon Crean, address the local prospects of work in the future and the policy implications.

Table of Contents:
Notes on contributors Forward (Horst Pastoors and Walter F Veit) 1. Introduction: a future that works? (Steve Wright) 2. A genealogy of work: tracing the past (Walter F Veit) Part I: Global trends, social challenges 3. Economic restructuring: the global hierarchy (Alain Lipietz, CEPREMAP, Paris) 4. Social transformation: new problems, new possibilities (Kevin McDonald, University of Melbourne) 5. Cultural meanings in transition: a crisis at work (Bernhard Wilpert, Technical University of Berlin) 6. Forms of future employment (Bert Rurup, Technical University of Darmstadt) ) 7. Patterns of present unemployment (Hans Schmid, RIWIL, St Gallen) Part II: Changing labour markets 8. The politics of the new service economy (Carla Lipsig-Mumme, York University, Toronto) 9. Displacing human labour: an epoch-making phenomenon (Michael Miegel, Bonn + Liepzig University)) 10. Between modernism and postmodernism: comparing Japan (Ross Moue

About the Author :
Paul James, Deptartment of Politics, Monash University. Editor of Arena Magazine and author/editor of Technocratic Dreaming and The State In Question. Walter Veit is Head of the Department of German Studies at Monash. Steve Wright from the Centre for European Studies at Monash.