New Work New Culture: Work We Want And A Culture That Strengthens Us

by Frithjof Bergmann

The 'job system' for organizing work has only existed for around 200 years - since the industrial revolution. Always problematic, it now approaches collapse, and what follows, either for good or ill, depends on decisions made and executed in current times. Many people are filled with dismay, and turn for succor to political opportunists. Prescient of the looming disaster, Frithjof Bergmann began to devise alternatives to the job system in the 1970s. He started with the fostering of dialogue, about ameliorating the impacts of layoffs in times of recession, among the workforce in the auto industry and community, in Flint, Michigan. What has evolved, over years, is his proposed alternative to the job system. New Work, New Culture recounts the development of his ideas, and describes one course which humanity might follow, that all might live better lives.

Genres: Philosophy, Business, Nonfiction

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 28, 2019

Reviews

[John Stepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

5+ stars for the philosophy of making people feel more alive through their work. Many, many deep and useful insights.

3 stars for HTSP (High-Tech Self Production) including personal fabrication (3D printing) as the way to realize that philosophy.

The passionate arguments alone are well worth the read, and I’m looking forward now to diving into his first book “On Being Free”.

[Youssef El Baba · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought and started reading this book because I was really excited about New Work and the potential for an alternative to the way our current job system works, but I was very disappointed.

The book is not just a bit outdated and written in sub-par English (there are obvious mistakes from a native German native speaker), but more importantly half of the book is spent hyping up the concept of New Work, which is good, but then it becomes clear there are few arguments the book has to offer, and many of the few arguments that it *does* give are severely flawed. There are flagrant self-contradictions in terms of ditching the current job system, but still implicitly requiring that it continues to exist for funding New Work, it's an altogether botched-up or — even absent treatment — of where the money will come from for funding this new work system and how to keep it running sustainably. I simply stopped reading at around 60-70% of the book.

Unlike other movements which actually provide a consistent theory of how they will work in practice — like universal basic income, which the author incidently furiously rejects — the book here hypes up the need for an alternative, all the while ultimately showing that the book's proposed new system is no alternative at all, which only leaves the reader more depressed and hopeless regarding *any* prospects of alternative. Not encouraging.

I'm really very disappointed in the illogical presentation of the new system and the book. I was waiting for something much better.

[Torzonborz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book, after reading Begmann's masterpiece "On being free". This book was published a good 35 years later, right after the 2008 financial crisis. I definitely agree on the observations about the "Job System" we currently have. The book gives of a detailed account on how the phenomenon works worldwide. The second and major part is about the projects the author is creating with other to find a possible alternative to the current system. Unfortunately I think there are some gaps on the solutions offered, and also piloted (hat's off!) by the author and his team. Still, reading those forced me to think about the challenges what we face if we want to create a better "Work system". I truly believe that emphasis must be done on the consumption part, and there are also huge question marks, that who would provide raw materials and energy for the new Work system proposed by the author. If we do not compare this book to his previously mentioned marvelous feat, it can serve us as thought provoking read.

[Marcel Schwarz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good timeless ideas but a big part of the book feels a bit outdated. Also the writing style is a bit repetitive.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting... which was a lot of discussion of economics. Great breakdown of Hegel's conception of the self.