{"id":90890,"date":"2024-03-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/lautre-moitie-du-monde\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T14:27:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:27:00","slug":"lautre-moitie-du-monde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/lautre-moitie-du-monde\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Autre Moiti\u00e9 du monde"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cHow has labor, that cornerstone of the Left since its foundation, been appropriated by its opponents? And, most crucially, how can this key issue be recaptured and made a priority for the Left?\u201d These are the strikingly apposite questions[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u202fposed in this book \u2014 entitled L\u2019Autre Moiti\u00e9 du monde. Essai sur le sens et la valeur du travail [The Other Half of the World: Essay on the Meaning and Value of Labor]<\/em> \u2014 by Paul Magnette who is both a professor of political theory at ULB (Universit\u00e9 libre de Bruxelles) and leader of the Belgian Socialist Party. He is asking these questions at exactly the same time and in exactly the same manner as another left-wing political leader: France\u2019s Fran\u00e7ois Ruffin.[2]<\/a><\/sup> Both draw on extensive voter testimony and make good use of relevant advances in the field of labor studies (encompassing psychology, ergonomics, sociology, statistics, etc.).[3]<\/a><\/sup> \u202f<\/h6>
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Magnette<\/span> Paul, L\u2019Autre Moiti\u00e9 du monde. Essai sur le sens et la valeur du travail<\/em>, Paris: La D\u00e9couverte (Petits cahiers libres), January\u00a02024, 176\u00a0p.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \"\"\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

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The testimonies gathered and the social sciences research all support the theory that as an activity work still plays a key role in the make-up of individuals, their health, and their social ties. Paul Magnette successfully demonstrates \u201chow we are constructed by work\u201d because it forces us to confront its concrete reality, enabling us to develop our experience and our skills, and to feel the pleasure of a job well done. He also shows \u201chow work unites us\u201d by stimulating a feeling of interdependence, cooperation, and acknowledgment of each individual\u2019s contribution.<\/p>\n

Initially, the workers\u2019 movement focused on the emancipating role of labor. Paul Magnette tells us that, in the words of Proudhon, \u201coppressed labor leads to an oppressive society; free and autonomous labor lays the foundations for a liberated society\u201d (p.\u00a046). However, Marx viewed the emancipating role of work as the goal of a post-capitalist future that was forever just beyond the horizon. In his view, the \u201crealm of freedom\u201d was to be found in the time spent outside work, confirming the irremediably heteronomous nature of labor. The productivism shared by the bourgeoisie and the working classes ensures that \u201cover and beyond everything that divides them, these rival classes share a work ethic based on effort, abnegation, and self-sacrifice\u201d (p.\u00a052). The Left has therefore rarely sought to change how labor is organized and \u201cthe question of the content and meaning of work has remained in the shadows\u201d (p.\u00a065).<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
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\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Attitudes to Work in France: Trends and Prospects<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
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25 August 2023<\/div>\n CLERT\u00c9 Jennifer<\/a>\n MALENFER Marc<\/a>\n
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Thus, while reducing the amount of time spent at work remains a legitimate aspiration, doing so \u201cwithout improving its nature would simply, in the words of Simone Weil, turn \u2018people into a swarm of idlers, who for two hours a day would be slaves\u2019\u201d (p.\u00a0128). Paul Magnette quite properly highlights the experience of the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic: \u201cThe proper meaning and value of labor returns when there is no obstacle to the desire to do one\u2019s job well and workers suddenly discover they have the power to participate in defining their own tasks, as was often the case in the unusual context of the pandemic\u201d (p.\u00a0134). Private companies and state departments should therefore set aside time to consider labor, its qualities, and how it is organized, to give workers \u201cthe power to contribute not only to defining their tasks and the general organization of work, but also the aims of society overall\u201d (p.\u00a0136).<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

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\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
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\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Working Conditions in Europe: Disparities and Convergences<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
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25 August 2023<\/div>\n PROUST Sarah<\/a>\n
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Paul Magnette\u2019s book (like that by Fran\u00e7ois Ruffin) demonstrates that we are nearing the end of a long era during which the Left subscribed to the idea that the work ethic was a sacrifice and renounced the emancipating role of work. A promising period of reflection is beginning with the concept of democracy at work, understood not only as the presence of employees within management bodies but, more profoundly, the right to construct a collective worker viewpoint on how and why people work and to ensure that perspective is enforced within the concrete organization of labor, thus challenging the concept of subordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The few minor inaccuracies in Magnette\u2019s analysis in no way lessen the political importance of his book. For example, his reference to a so-called \u201cnew spirit of capitalism\u201d[4]<\/a><\/sup> \u201cencouraging workers to take the initiative and take on responsibilities, promoting horizontal cooperation between colleagues rather than a hierarchical structure\u201d (p. 79) is regrettable. However, he does correctly describe the overwhelming inclination within modern management (particularly in the services sector) to break down \u201cevery activity into simple and standardized operations with execution periods that are as tight as possible and that must be recorded on a timesheet to ensure that workers do not waste a second of the time they are selling to the employer\u201d (p. 82). Moreover, when Paul Magnette writes, for example, that \u201cfree work only occupies a small part of our existence, a little time left to us by our job\u201d (p. 29), it might also be said that he appears to underestimate the importance of the \u201cliving labor\u201d[5]<\/a><\/sup> that nestles at the heart of any work, even subservient tasks. However, this is of little matter if readers retain his final message: \u201cThe Left was created in reaction to new forms of organizing labor; forgetting that fact has almost brought about its death\u201d (p. 146).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article has been translated from French and edited by Cadenza Academic Translations.
Translator: Morag Young, Editor: Zahira Ransome, Senior editor: Mark Mellor<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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  1. \n

    At least in my opinion. See my book Lib\u00e9rer le travail<\/em>. Pourquoi la gauche s\u2019en moque et pourquoi \u00e7a doit changer<\/em> (Paris: Seuil, 2018). \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Ruffin<\/span> Fran\u00e7ois, Mal-travail. Le choix des \u00e9lites<\/em> (Paris: Les Liens qui lib\u00e8rent, 2024). \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Nonetheless, it is important to indicate that the title of Magnette\u2019s book rests on a debatable interpretation of my research Travail et bien-\u00eatre psychologique<\/a>.<\/em> That study did not demonstrate that \u201cmost workers are satisfied with their work\u201d or that \u201cthe share of individuals expressing such satisfaction varies between a third and a half, meaning that labor is a source of suffering for the other half of the world\u201d (Paul Magnette, p.\u00a075 of his book). In truth, on the basis of an econometric method, the research showed that \u201cwork might contribute to improving the mental health of approximately two out of every five active workers, damaging it for two out of five, and might be relatively neutral in terms of the wellbeing of one out of five\u201d (p. 32 of my study). This research was based not on \u201csatisfaction at work\u201d among employees but on the econometric links between the organization of labor and psychological wellbeing (measured using a World Health Organization scale). \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Boltanski<\/span> Luc and Chiapello<\/span> \u00c8ve, The New Spirit of Capitalism<\/em> (London: Verso, 2005 [1999]). Since the publication of this book, the surge in lean management and new public management has largely disproved the optimistic narrative of the 1990s management manuals studied by Luc Boltanski and \u00c8ve Chiapello. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Dejours<\/span> Christophe, Travail vivant 2. Travail et \u00e9mancipation<\/em> (Paris: Payot [Petite Biblioth\u00e8que], 2013). \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cHow has labor, that cornerstone of the Left since its foundation, been appropriated by its opponents? And, most crucially, how can this key issue be recaptured and made a priority for the Left?\u201d These are the strikingly apposite questions[1]\u202fposed in this book \u2014 entitled L\u2019Autre Moiti\u00e9 du monde. Essai sur le sens et la valeur du … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":87932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[133,212],"keyword":[862,890,1238,891,1984,1137],"class_list":["post-90890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-seen-heard","tag-economie-et-emploi-en","tag-societe-en","keyword-travail-en","keyword-management-en","keyword-societe-et-individu-en","keyword-systeme-de-valeurs-en","keyword-participation-des-travailleurs-en","keyword-conditions-de-travail-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90890"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99208,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90890\/revisions\/99208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90890"},{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=90890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}