A summary document of the work resulting from the electronic forum of the "Work, Employment" workshop, the Synthesis Congress, carried out in Florianopolis/Brazil, from 27th to 29th April 2001 and the Congress of the 15 PSES workshops, in Findhorn, from 9th to 15th June 2001. The document deals with transformations in the world of work as well as the theme of syndicalism, related to the problem of city management; the text is followed by a questionnaire.
We are experiencing an extensive social transformation which is characterised by its civilising nature. One of the main components of this "civilising mutation" is the current technological and organisational revolution, which directly affects the many production forms. Profound and accelerated changes are taking place which, on the one hand, reinforce and broaden the power of the capitalist logic, but on the other hand, get to the bottom of serious obstacles making new contradictions emerge that, paradoxically, favour transcendence of the same modern-industrial-urban mode of life. There is no uniform direction, although there are many tendencies, some of which are contradictory. However, capitalism, undoubtedly, dominated the third technological revolution (even though seeds of other modes of life were also sown there). Within this complex civilising transition, the world of work is confused in a chaotic mess of frenetic transformations. In a reality where "everything solid falls apart", where the concept of work itself is undergoing great changes, where it is becoming difficult to characterise even the weakened working class, what can be distinguished?, what can be affirmed? Even though it is possible to identify common structural lines, they unequally affect a heterogeneous capitalist social formation, in which different modes of production always co-existed, synthesised in different historical rhythms. Thus, it is important to perceive various differentiated and combined "worlds of work".
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