Work 'as if people mattered': Reassessing the contribution of E. F. Schumacher

Franck Bailly () and Benjamin Dubrion ()
Additional contact information
Franck Bailly: LASTA - Laboratoire d'Analyse des Sociétés, Transformations et Adaptations - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université
Benjamin Dubrion: TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: "While academic literature has widely acclaimed E. F. Schumacher's work for its critique of the industrial production system and its contribution to the depletion of natural resources, it has downplayed the author's reflections on work. This article aims to reassess Schumacher as a genuine theorist of work. By conceptualising ecological and work issues as two sides of the same productive reality, we demonstrate that Schumacher emerges as a proponent of the thesis of the centrality of work in human life, outlining concrete pathways to strive towards what he terms "Good Work". Schumacher's reflections on work thus serve not only to critique the manner in which mainstream economics apprehends the nature and purposes of work, but also to more broadly question the conceptual and normative assumptions underlying that paradigm."

Keywords: Buddhist Economics; Mainstream Economics; Centrality of Work; Work; Schumacher (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Ecological Economics, 2026, 2027/1 (251), pp.109229. ⟨10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.109229⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05748125

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2026.109229

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().