By Tony Weekes on December 9, 2009
The Guardian newspaper reports (5 December: Jobless to be offered ‘talking treatment’ to help put Britain back to work) that, at a cost of £550M per year, the unemployed will be offered cognitive behaviour therapy “ …to get Britain back to work after the recession.”
This illustrates something I have been struggling with: the lack – in conventional debate – of an adequate distinction between ‘work’ and ‘a job’.
The need for a distinction is not trivial. Work is an important part of our lives, and means different things to different people. There’s work to be done, but whether this will be achieved by finding or creating ‘jobs’ is not clear. If the job simply feeds trivial (and contrived) wants, then – by wasting increasingly scarce resources or talents – it is adding to the problems.
In a letter to The Guardian (8 December: Thoughts on getting people into work), Professor Guy Standing’s response helps me with my struggle. In part he says: “Worse, focusing on therapy … must divert attention from the causes of mental anxiety and insecurity. As I have argued in a recent book, a primary cause is the fetish of the jobholder society. Work is much more than ‘jobs’, and it is time to recognise that in the formulation of social and economic policy”. Professor Standing discuss the distinction with care on his website www.guystanding.com. His paper Why Basic Income is Needed for a Right to Work is one I found useful; it can be downloaded from the website publications pages.
As I have said in other contributions to this blog, the failure of conventional wisdom to draw distinctions is part of what is bringing ‘economics’ – in its present form – into disrepute
Finally, I suggest a look at the website of the Public and Commercial Services Union (www.pcs.org.uk), in particular the campaign for “one million climate jobs”. But – perhaps by mentioning this – am I contradicting my earlier attempts to draw a distinction between ‘work’ and ‘jobs’?
6 Comments
A couple of thoughts on the subject of work – one is to praise a couple of books of utopian literature, William Morris ‘News from Nowhere’ and Edward Bellamy ‘Looking Backwards’- the latter not so well-known but gives a great sense of what it means to value everyone’s contribution to society without having to have the label ‘work’ or ‘job’ and certainly not ‘pay’ – utopian – not practical but the thing about’valuing everyon’e contribution’ is certainly inspiring. Second thought – I really pity the people who earn so much and yet can only be tempted out of their beds in the morning to do their jobs by receiving huge bonuses. Their jobs must be so awful – with no satisfaction that they are contributing to society – what a way to have to live. I guess a lot of readers of this blog will be retired and/or involved in voluntary work – and isn’t it great!! Do you want to be burdened with a half million pounds bonus? -I’ve no time for that have you?
But making sure everyone has enough is quite a different matter …..
Many years ago, ‘Python’ Terry Jones produced an excellent TV programme in which he pointed out that, in his view, the transformation of ‘work’ into ‘a job’ was essentially a post-feudal phenomenon and therefore very recent in overall timescale. As I have said in an earlier contribution, I feel it would be very helpul if we had some understanding of the processes by which developed societies take away work from those who in primitive societies have it. Everyone is born with a job, to obtain food and shelter and survive – and at subsistence level retains it. It is only when a society moves above subsistence level that significant work distribution begins. I cannot believe that this topic has not been studied, and look forward to bloggers identifying relevant academic references. Adam Smith pretty well ignores it. However, I repeat my own view that such research is not (though it should be) the sort of thing that will attract the interest of a modern econo-capitalist; being more suited to other disciplines, in which I have previously cited anthropologists and engineering scientists as examples
just to say for now that looking at the site for the first time I have been attracted by seeing this topic discussed at an intelligent level
de-linking income from ‘work’ in an organisation that is motivated only by cash profit is one of the greatest potential ways to save energy, and on a scale far larger than most of what is being practised in green circles so far
My main interest is in transfer from cash to energy accounting and I hope to take up more aspects of it in due course
crisscross says
My main interest is in transfer from cash to energy accounting and I hope to take up more aspects of it in due course.
Why not get in touch Ian.greenwood@STEERglobal.org
A very useful line of thinking. This reminds me of a famous story from Wales, where a researcher was interviewing women living in a rural setting. On hearing the many things they did each day (handwashing clothes, baking etc), the researcher exclaimed ‘How on earth do you do so much work?’ The reply ‘no-one told us it was work’…
Like Tony and Flying Stag, I feel there is a vital distinction to be made between work and jobs. Commoditising our time has led to greater economic ‘efficiency’, but we need to reflect on how many of us spend so much time doing things of limited value (both to ourselves, and the universe).
Have ‘day jobs’, coupled with conspicuous consumption become a kind of cosmic displacement activity from the real work of leading the good life?
MakeItZone.org is a set of buildings where work-live balance can be obtained in a community of makers at less than the cost of separate places to work, live and sell.
Some selling of the made goods must be involved to support the Centre as well as engage interest of the public with the Work going on inside the units. The licence to occupy a unit involves a commitment for each member to work at least one day a week on site, but this can be flexibly with the others sharing a unit.
This model allows a great flexible working life and the ability to sell from a busy location in a character historic gem of a building. See http://www.MAKEitZone.org But preferably SEE it.
http://tinyurl.com/36sluc4
An an innovative way to achieve Cameron’s rebooting and rebuilding without demolition and with Care for the Climate and Energy Transition
“The MakeItZone provides an opportunity for such an intentional community to develop and provides an example of a Big Society Project. Ian Greenwood, through his vision and relentless pursuit of ways and means, has instigated on the ground an environment to help businesses, youth and apprentices to “make-it” both in life, in craft and in business. Additionally, there will be full scale demonstrators of how existing buildings can be super-insulated and how solar energy can be gathered and stored even in winter in “low-tech” low-cost ways for maximum efficiency”.