The Brave New World of Work

by Ulrich Beck

In this important book, Ulrich Beck - one of the leading social thinkers in Europe today - examines how work has become unstable in the modern world and presents a new vision for the future. Beck begins by describing how the traditional work society, with its life-long job paths, is giving way to a much less stable world in which skills can be suddenly devalued, jobs obliterated, welfare cover reduced or eliminated. The West would appear to be heading towards a social structure of ambiguity and multiple activity that has hitherto been more characteristic of the developing world. But what appears to be the end of traditional working practices can also be seen as an opportunity to develop new ideas and models for work in the twenty-first century.


Beck's alternative vision is centred on the concept of active citizens democratically organized in local, and increasingly also regional or transnational, networks. Against the threat of social exclusion, everyone can and must have a right to be included in a new definition and distribution of work. This will involve constant movement between formal employment (with a major reduction in working hours) and forms of self-organized artistic, cultural and political 'civil labour', providing equal access to comprehensive social protection. The aim must be to turn insecurity around, so that it becomes a positive and enriching discontinuity of life.


Drawing on his earlier work on risk and reflexive modernization, The Brave New World of Work is also closely linked to his studies on globalization and individualization. These processes are part of the same challenge upon which a politics of modernity must now base itself. Not only the future of work, but also the very survival of democracy and the welfare state will depend on the development of a newly committed and 'multi-active' transnational citizenship.


This book will be of great interest to second- and third-year students in sociology, politics, geography and the social sciences generally. It will also appeal to a broader audience interested in the issues and debates surrounding the changing nature of work.

Table of contents

1. The Brazilianization of the West: Two scenarios, one introduction
2. The Antithesis to the Work Society
3. The Transition from the First to the Second Modernity: Five challenges
4. The Future of Work and its Scenarios: An interim balance sheet
5. The Risk Regime: How the Work Society is becoming Risk Society
6. A Thousand Worlds of Insecure Work: Europe's future glimpsed in Brazil
7. The Great Example? Work and democracy in the USA
8. Vision of the Future I: The Europe of Civil Labour
9. Vision of the Future II: Postnational Civil Society

Select bibliography
Index

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist. He coined the term risk society and was a professor of Sociology at Munich University and the London School of Economics.

Reviews

[Dave Peticolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, yes, two books in a row with 'Brave New World' in the title. Amazon knows me well. This one is about the future of work and takes as its premise the death of the implicit contract of full-time employment for most everyone (at least everyone white and male) that existed in the US and much of Western Europe in the middle twentieth century.

There are some interesting ideas here about what might take its place, centered around the idea of 'civil labor', a sort of activist, publicly-funded but privately-organized community volunteerism. At least I think that's what it is. The writing is the dull and opaque sort of academese that makes for hard reading.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twenty years ago, Ulrich Beck looked at the alarming cracks in the facade of the German welfare state. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book are his ten possible work scenarios for the future, but which with a little more effort and analysis could probably have been halved. In a sense what Beck intuits is a gig economy...it is a shallow and not a pretty picture.

I would not recommend the book unless you are very interested in the history of work, the erosion of the middle class and the welfare state. I confess I abandoned the book half-way through.

[Dejan Basic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prophetic and breath taking

[Damiaan Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best interessante ideeën, maar de auteur maakt het onnodig ingewikkeld, met overdreven veel moeilijke, academische begrippen, ook wanneer het net eenvoudig zou kunnen worden uitgelegd

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheds a lot of light. A real motivator to turn off reality television and stop eating at McDonalds. You'll understand when you read it.