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Griffith Review #45
The Way We Work
The way we work has changed profoundly in recent years.
Australians are now near the top of the list of working hours in developed countries; a substantial and growing proportion of people work part-time with multiple employers – not all by choice; unpaid internships are the normal entry path for young people; women are no longer forced to resign when they marry or become pregnant, but the wage gap remains; manufacturing and agricultural jobs have given way to working in services, and now those jobs that don’t actually demand hands on contact are also moving offshore.
Many welcome the flexibility of the new environment. For others, though, it represents a deepening of risk and insecurity. The proletariat is giving way to what has been called the precariat, a new class who lack the stability and certainty of regular work or predictable social welfare.
Griffith REVIEW 45: The Way We Work explores the extraordinary structural changes in work caused by technology, globalisation, economic theory, the collapse of the unions and an ageing population.
Featuring essays from Ashley Hay, Gideon Haigh, Mandy Sayer, Rebecca Huntley, Peter Mares, Josephine Rowe and more, The Way We Work asks: How does work shape our values, our citizens, cultures and communities? As our work changes, how will it change us? How does the blurring of work and leisure through ‘access anywhere’ technology affect our attitudes to work? How are older Australians going to find consistent and flexible work (as the government wants them to do) when age discrimination is rife? Will flexible work help decrease the gender gap?
Australia is not America, where millions struggle to make ends meet with inadequate jobs and social support, or one of those European countries where unemployment rates have reached well into double digits and remained there for years, or one of the many countries where work itself may be life threatening.
But even here work is less secure and less predictable, forcing us to adapt. We exist in professional landscapes that didn’t exist fifteen years ago, that are still being altered and transformed today, and that are probably all but incomprehensible to our parents’ generation.
One thing remains constant though, work is essential to economic wellbeing and meaning, so getting it right is important.
Australians are now near the top of the list of working hours in developed countries; a substantial and growing proportion of people work part-time with multiple employers – not all by choice; unpaid internships are the normal entry path for young people; women are no longer forced to resign when they marry or become pregnant, but the wage gap remains; manufacturing and agricultural jobs have given way to working in services, and now those jobs that don’t actually demand hands on contact are also moving offshore.
Many welcome the flexibility of the new environment. For others, though, it represents a deepening of risk and insecurity. The proletariat is giving way to what has been called the precariat, a new class who lack the stability and certainty of regular work or predictable social welfare.
Griffith REVIEW 45: The Way We Work explores the extraordinary structural changes in work caused by technology, globalisation, economic theory, the collapse of the unions and an ageing population.
Featuring essays from Ashley Hay, Gideon Haigh, Mandy Sayer, Rebecca Huntley, Peter Mares, Josephine Rowe and more, The Way We Work asks: How does work shape our values, our citizens, cultures and communities? As our work changes, how will it change us? How does the blurring of work and leisure through ‘access anywhere’ technology affect our attitudes to work? How are older Australians going to find consistent and flexible work (as the government wants them to do) when age discrimination is rife? Will flexible work help decrease the gender gap?
Australia is not America, where millions struggle to make ends meet with inadequate jobs and social support, or one of those European countries where unemployment rates have reached well into double digits and remained there for years, or one of the many countries where work itself may be life threatening.
But even here work is less secure and less predictable, forcing us to adapt. We exist in professional landscapes that didn’t exist fifteen years ago, that are still being altered and transformed today, and that are probably all but incomprehensible to our parents’ generation.
One thing remains constant though, work is essential to economic wellbeing and meaning, so getting it right is important.
264 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2014
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Julianne Schultz
63 books17 followersJULIANNE SCHULTZ is the founding editor of Griffith REVIEW. She is on the boards of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Grattan Institute. She is the Chair of the Queensland Design Council and the reference group on the National Cultural Policy, deputy chair of the Australian Council of Learned Academies Securing Australia’s Future project and on advisory committees with a focus on education, media and Indigenous issues. Since co-chairing the Creative Australia stream at the 2020 Summit she has been actively involved in cultural policy debates. She has been a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, Myer Foundation Fellowships and Walkley Awards. She is the author of Reviving the Fourth Estate: Democracy, accountability and the media (Cambridge University Press, 1998), Steel City Blues (Penguin, 1985) and the librettos Black River and Going into Shadows.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 19, 2014
For an undertaking that has such a ubiquitous presence in many people’s lives, the very quintessence of work is something that is not accorded the significance it deserves. As Griffith Review editor, Julianne Schultz, says in her prologue to Griffith Review’s latest edition: ‘One thing remains constant, work is essential to economic wellbeing and meaning, so getting it right is important.’
Griffith Review devotes its 45th edition to the pressing questions and emergent challenges of the day – all within the prism of something we take for granted everyday.
Read the rest of my review on ArtsHub: http://www.artshub.com.au/news-articl...
Griffith Review devotes its 45th edition to the pressing questions and emergent challenges of the day – all within the prism of something we take for granted everyday.
Read the rest of my review on ArtsHub: http://www.artshub.com.au/news-articl...
August 31, 2014
Appropriate that I didn't get to review this book as soon as I would have liked because of "work". The Australian take on this is interesting and varied. Enjoy reading about the workers of "the long weekend", self-funded retirees and part-time workers! Then there's those working late and the growing number of people with "encore careers". A respected journal in Australia, this has some quality writing that the rest of the world will enjoy.
April 27, 2015
NOTE: I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FROM GOODREADS FIRST READS IN RETURN FOR A HONEST REVIEW
Since I have started university this year it gave me an insight on the way writing essays are conducted.
Some of the articles in this book had me bored as I didn't understand the writing or topic. But 90% of this book had me interested and I truly enjoyed it. I liked the memoirs especially.
Since I have started university this year it gave me an insight on the way writing essays are conducted.
Some of the articles in this book had me bored as I didn't understand the writing or topic. But 90% of this book had me interested and I truly enjoyed it. I liked the memoirs especially.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews