Clarke Future of Work

Human Value in a Digital World
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4835-4832-6
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 130 Seiten

The remarkable story of how seismic shifts in technology, demographics and globalization are creating a tipping point that's revolutionizing our concept of work. How is this affecting the future of jobs, careers, education, the consumer economy and society? Who will be the winners and who will be the losers in this brave new world?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Clarke, Marcus

Leseproben

WHAT IS WORK? Work is far from a simple concept. Work is as much an identity as it is an activity. Individuals in society are largely defined by their contribution to others. And this often has little to do with how they are compensated for their efforts. The concept of work is so ingrained in our individual and collective psyches that any meaningful discussion is difficult without some deconstruction of it’s meaning. A good place to begin this inquiry is to look at the concept of ‘need’ that arises from our simply being alive. To live sufficiently well enough to raise a family, we need food, water, shelter, fuel, clothing and other supplies. Do we live in a world where these necessities exist in abundance just for the taking? Far from it, according to most. Then it is no surprisethatour history has been dominated by the scourge of scarcity accompanied by its evil cousin, poverty. The never-ending burden of securing sufficient resources to ensure survival has been the predominant activity of humans throughout history and continued to this day. In this respect, we are little different from other life on this planet. Like other species, we are social beings. Many of the ways in which our ancestors interacted revolved around their relative access to specific resources. These included not only the materials listed above, but also opportunities for reproduction and advancement. And almost without fail, these interactions over time resulted in a powerful minority gaining control of a disproportionate share of resources. The vast majority was left to struggle for what remained. Why? For at least two millennia, this systemic scarcity and inequality have been explained in broad theological terms. In Christian culture, we associate our plight with the biblical story of the ‘fall’ from heavenly grace with Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Other religious traditions offer similar myths to explain why their chosen people continue to suffer under the stern eye of a judgmental heaven. In many cases, human beings are deemed collectively guilty of some ancient sin, and that is why we’ve apparently been condemned to play musical chairs with our limited resources. Why else would an all-powerful deity intentionally limit the resources we need? By this obscure theology, the rich are apparently blessed, and conversely the poor cursed. The powerful are evidently God’s chosen ones; the weak are by definition sinners. How else does an all-powerful God condone such inequality? This bizarre equilibrium has changed surprisingly little over the course of thousands of years and is still considered unremarkable to this day. On the secular side of the house, scarcity and poverty are often blamed on the Malthusian outcome of overpopulation. That certainly may have been true in the past, but the demographics of the last half-century refute this completely in the developed world. Why does poverty still exist in the US today? It’s certainly not because of overpopulation. Why doesn’t every working family have what they need? And conversely, why do some not work at all and enjoy vastly more resources than they need? The inequality of the human situation is a magnet for easy answers, but a comprehensive understanding remains elusive. However, the apportionment of needed resources, either by force or cooperative exchange, forms the necessary foundation to understand work. A Brief History of Work Work in its simplest form, labor, has been with us in some form or another since we were hunter-gatherers, and since then it hasn’t fundamentally changed. In most parts of the world, if we didn’t work, we didn’t eat. There were some exceptions – certain habitats could sustain inhabitants by fishing and gathering for just a couple of hours a day. But these situations were rare. Unlike these lucky folks, the reality for most of us is that just staying safe, warm and dry in a less hospitable environment takes a great deal of work. And that’s before we even think about feeding our family. So at some very early time in human history, a basic evolutionary advantage was gained by human families who banded together for protection and to share resources. For single individuals to independently hunt, gather, build shelter and remain safe became inefficient, if not impossible. Pacific Islanders may have had a choice to do this, but in the less hospitable climes of the North it was likely the only way to survive. So families aggregated into tribes or even larger congregations as a more efficient and robust way to survive and prosper. From what anthropologists know of the pre-agrarian society, almost everyone chipped in to help the group according to skill, ability, age, and health. You grew up connected to everyone and were at all times an integral part of your family and your tribe. You were part of, and contributed to, a community that provided you with your share of safety, sustenance, care, and support. You might hold an elevated role as a warrior, hunter, shaman, weaver and so on, but here was no ‘pay’ because money as we know it didn’t exist. The concept of ‘job’ was also absent because there was virtually no mobility; you did what you were skilled and able to do. Abundance, as well as scarcity, was shared by all. While these early hunter-gatherer societies inhabited, seasonally migrated within and sometimes defended their homeland, the concept of ‘owning’ land was inconceivable. Indeed, in some remote parts of our world this way of thinking persists to this day. The agricultural revolution radically changed this notion. Productive land became a prized asset, although still under communal stewardship. It wasn’t ‘owned’ but regarded as a commonwealth. But rising populations and tides of desperate, hungry migrants led to bloody confrontations. Land soon became defined as a titled property typically gained through conquest by a mogul or barbarian chief and the concept of land ownership was written into ‘law.’ Land acquired by conquest was typically carved up and awarded to the victorious chieftains and generals. Many then settled and became feudal lords. The original inhabitants were often slain, but if they were fortunate may have been spared to grow crops and do the bidding of their new masters. Their new landlords demanded taxes to be paid either in the form of annual produce or by providing able young men for military service. Such taxation was the basis of tenant farming that has existed in some form or other ever since, and is still the basis of agriculture in many places to this day. Those remaining hunter-gather tribes gradually disappeared as their habitat was seized and ‘sold’ as soon as some type of agriculture or mining made their homeland economically attractive. This unequal and often oppressive bargain resulting from military conquest or other forms of forceful appropriation forms much of the modern concept of work. Again, I do not bring up this Hobbesian picture to make judgments, but to remind the reader that a typical human’s options in life were extremely limited. Unless of course, you happened to be born into privilege. Now we all know that not all of us need to work in order to meet our basic needs. Those of us who by birth, skill or luck have acquired, or inherited resources and influence get to enjoy the benefits of social status and power. Historically this privilege has translated into health, safety, reliable food choices and superior reproductive opportunity. The result has often been a self-propagating hierarchy of power. These fortunate few among us are the ‘haves’ while the vast majority remains below, being the ‘have-nots.’ The key principle behind understanding work is that the ‘haves’ effectively control most of the resources needed by the ‘have-nots.’ We see this control most commonly exercised via markets for labor and services. It is these markets that form the foundation of much of the formalized economic exchange what we call work. But beyond work’s economic provenance, there is another component that is just as powerful. As the saying goes, “It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know.” The Hidden Meaning of Work Whether as hunter-gathers or as farmers, our survival often depended on our ability to cooperate and work with one another. We needed each other to survive and, in fact; our brains became optimized to do so. Such interdependency led to a highly connected and cooperative social structure, which was dependent on communication skills to function. These skills gradually evolved into a sophisticated spoken language, and ultimately into writing. So in this way, our well being, our health, and even our very survival came to be demonstrably linked to the quality of the connections with members of our family, tribe, and clan. This network of inter-personal connections came to be the single most important factor in our success as human beings. Strong connections facilitated cooperation, which led to larger projects and organizational structures. This network of connections fueled our continued existence and growth, and this basic fact continues to the present day. Connections are the de facto currency of social wealth. When we ask another “What do you do?” what we’re really asking is “Who are you?” and...