Austerity, labour market change and the transformation of work

Kevin Doogan

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2011, vol. 5, issue 2, 127-137

Abstract: This paper challenges a set of ideas that we live in a new capitalism defined by its fluidity and impermanence. This discourse has been part of the development of neo-liberalism in the last two decades. However, the statistical evidence shows that labour market trends are at odds with the discourses of flexibility, mobility, precariousness and impermanence. This is not an abstract or academic discussion since these broadly held public perceptions play an important role in weakening worker resistance to change. The economic crisis and the new austerity policies provide opportunities for resistance especially in the state sector in a period that will be intensely ideological. In this, the battle for ideas, the representation of labour market change and the transformation of work need to be contested.

Keywords: labour markets; work transformation; austerity; employment flexibility; precariousness; neo-liberalism; trade unions; economic crisis; capitalism; mobility; impermanence; resistance to change; market changes. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmcph:v:5:y:2011:i:2:p:127-137

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