Consumption work and societal divisions of labour
Contemporary global developments in work and employment are transforming labour
and reshaping relations between workers, creating new webs of interconnection
across the world.
Objective
The objective of this European
Research Council funded research programme is a radical renewal of the
foundational concept of 'the division of labour', by situating traditional
understandings of the technical allocation of tasks within an expanded
theoretical framework.
Two additional dimensions of differentiation and
interdependency of work activities are proposed, namely across socio-economic
modes (market, non-market, etc.) and across the economic processes of
production, distribution, exchange, and preparation for consumption.
Approach
The approach will be developed by researching the new terrain of
consumption work: all work undertaken by consumers necessary for the
purchase, use, re-use and disposal of consumption goods. The research will
investigate how the work of consumers is shaped by its articulation with that of
providers, and vice versa.
Three contrasting empirical probes are chosen for the
questions each raises about consumption work and its increasing socio-economic
importance:
Analysis will centre for each on the varying nature of
the interface and interaction between consumption work and systems of provision
in five comparator countries (UK, Sweden, France, Taiwan, South Korea) selected
for their contrasting welfare regimes. The research programme is global,
comparative and historical, aiming at reconceptualisation of the division of
labour through substantive empirical research and integrative theoretical
analysis. It will advance comprehension of ongoing socio-economic change and
establish consumption work as a field of enquiry.