The Contested Constitution of Work – Spatial Scales ...· The Contested Constitution of Work –

DepartmentofSociology

TheContestedConstitutionofWorkSpatialScales,SocietalSpheresandModesofWorkCurrentResearchandNeglectedTerrains

06/2017

Editorialteam:MirjamPotCorneliaSchadlersoz.univie.ac.at/forschung/working-papers

TheContestedConstitutionofWorkSpatialScales,SocietalSpheresandMo-

desofWork

CurrentResearchandNeglectedTerrains

JrgFlecker,SusannePernicka,TheresaFibich

FlorianBrugger,VeraGlassner,BettinaHaidinger,RaimundHaindorfer,Ursula

Holtgrewe, Stefanie Hrtgen, Klaus Kraemer, Torben Krings, Johanna

Muckenhuber, SebastianNessel, Karin Sardadvar, Philip Schrpf, Ruth Simsa,

RolandVerwiebe,JohannaWoydack

Theauthorsarepartofauniversityandnon-universitysocialsciencesresearchteam (SOZNET), which aims at promoting Austrian research on work and em-ploymentthroughcooperationbetweenthepartnersandjointactivitiesintrain-ingandresearch.ThecontributingauthorsarefromtheUniversityofVienna,Jo-hannesKeplerUniversity Linz,Universityof Salzburg,ViennaUniversityof Eco-nomics and Business, University of Graz, the Working Life Research Centre(FORBA)andtheCentreforSocialInnovation(ZSI).

IfS Working Paper 6/2017

Flecker,Pernicka,Fibichet.al.

Abstract

Todayspervasivetransformationsinworkandemploymentrelatetochangingformsof

employment andwork organisation, to blurring boundaries between paid and unpaid

andformalandinformalwork,andtotheshiftingofworkbetweendifferentspheresof

society.Over thepastyears,anumberofeconomicandsocialprocesses,suchaseco-

nomicliberalisation,financialisation,ordigitalisation,acceleratedthesetrends.Thisre-

sultsinanincreasingopennessofhowworkandemploymentarebeingconstitutedwith

regard to the societaldivisionof labourand the institutional formsandorganisational

principlesofwork. Inthispaperwecalltorethinktheconventionalspatialand institu-

tional containersandweargueforawidenedperspectiveonthecurrentdynamicsof

labour thus contributing to furtherdeveloping the theoretical tools for theanalysisof

workinglife.

Zusammenfassung

WeitreichendeVernderungenknnenderzeitbeiArbeitundBeschftigungbeobachtet

werden:EsentstehenneueBeschftigungsformen,Grenzenzwischenbezahlterundun-

bezahlterundzwischenformellerundinformellerArbeitverschwimmen,dieArbeitsor-

ganisationverndertsichundeskommtzuVerschiebungenvonArbeitzwischenkapita-

listischen Unternehmen, dem Staat, dem Privathaushalt und der Zivilgesellschaft. Im

LaufedervergangenenJahrehabensichdieseEntwicklungenbeschleunigtundsiekn-

nen zueinemwesentlichenTeil aufdenAusbauvon Liberalisierung, Transnationalisie-

rungvonKapitalundArbeit,aufdieFinanzialisierung,aufvoranschreitendeDigitalisie-

rungunddieDurchsetzungeinerDienstleistungsgesellschaftzurckgefhrtwerden.Eine

Folgedavonist,dassdieGestaltungvonArbeitzunehmendoffenerwird,d.h.diegesell-

schaftliche Arbeitsteilung, die organisatorischen Prinzipien von Arbeit, aber auch die

herkmmlichen rumlichen und institutionellen Container wie etwa das Unterneh-

men, der Privathaushalt, der Staat, das nationale Beschftigungssystem oder das Ar-

beitsverhltniswerden inFragegestellt. IndiesemArtikelstellenwireineerweiterte

SichtweiseaufaktuelleDynamikenderArbeitdar.

IfS Working Paper 6/2017

Flecker,Pernicka,Fibichet.al.

1. Introduction

Currently,profoundchangescanbeobservedinworkandemployment.Theseshiftsre-

latetochangingformsofemployment,totheblurringofboundariesbetweenpaidand

unpaid,aswellasformalandinformalwork,tochangesinworkorganisationandtothe

shiftingofworkbetweenthecapitalisteconomy,thestate,householdsandcivilsociety.

Having accelerated over the past years, these developments can, to a substantial de-

gree,betracedbacktoprocessesofeconomicliberalisation,thetransnationalisationof

capitalandlabour,financialisation,digitalisationandthemovetowardsaserviceecon-

omy. The financial and economic crisis of 2008ff. and the European and international

crisispolicieshaveacceleratedtendenciesofde-regulationoflabourmarkets,particular-

lyinSouthernandEasternEuropeancountries.

Asaresult,theconstitutionofworkisincreasinglyopen,withregardtothesocietaldivi-

sionof labour and the institutional forms andorganizational principles ofwork.Work

researchcanno longer takeconventional spatialand institutional containers, suchas

thecompany,thehousehold,thenationstate,thenationalemploymentsystemorthe

employmentrelationshipforgranted(Wimmer&GlickSchiller,2002).Newtheoretical

andanalyticalframesareneededtodescribeandexplaincurrentchangesinworkandto

envisagepossiblefuturesofworkandemployment.

Although research has analysed the consequences of the abovementioned shifts and

dynamics,andalthoughnewtheoreticalapproacheshavebeenprovided inspecialised

fields,themajorityofresearchonworkandemployment,theoreticallyandanalytically,

still takes the conventional spatial and institutional containers for granted: labour is

(implicitly)assumedtobeexpendedinaworkplacewhichisseparatedfromhomeand

partofacompanyorapublic-sectororganisationlocatedwithinanationstatewhich,in

turn, determines the institutions that regulate the employment relationship within

which people work. This limited perspective increasingly tends to misframe (Fraser,

2010)workandemployment.Companiesnolongertakethestandardemploymentrela-

tionshipforgrantedbuttakeformsofemploymentasvariables.Workandemployment

onthegroundareshapednotonlybynationalinstitutionsbutalsobytherulesprevail-

ingintransnationalcompaniesorbythepositionoftheworkplaceintransnationalvalue

chains.Thecurrentopennessanddynamicsoftheconstitutionofworkcallforanalyses

IfS Working Paper 6/2017

Flecker,Pernicka,Fibichet.al.

ofthewaysinwhichworkandemploymentarecurrentlyshapedanddefined,makingit

necessarytoadoptanewconceptualizationofworkandtouseanalyticaltoolsthathelp

tounderstandnewspatialandinstitutionaldynamics.

Wearearguing forawidenedperspectiveon thecurrentdynamicsof labour.Theap-

proachwearesuggestingthushastwodimensions:

Firstly,weperceivetheconstitutionofworkincontemporarysocietiesascontestednot

onlywithintherealmofwage labour, i.e. theregulationofemploymentandofthe la-

bourprocess,butalsowithregardtotheassignmenttodifferentsocietalspheressuch

asthemarket,thestate,civilsocietyorhouseholdsaswellastheshiftbetweendiffer-

entmodesofworksuchaspaidandunpaid,professionalorvoluntary.

Secondly,we question the spatial frames inwhichwork and employment are usually

perceivedwhichmoreoftenthannotremainwithinwhatiscalledamethodologicalna-

tionalism.

In thispaper, thewideningof theperspectiveon the constitutionofworkandon the

dynamicspatialframeshelpustohighlightgapsinresearchonworkandemployment.

2. Thelevelsofanalysisofworkandemployment

In line with these two perspectives on work and employment, i.e. the re-

conceptualizationofworkandthesocio-spatialsensitivityofworkresearch,thiscontri-

butionfirstsuggestsawiderconceptofworkwhichinparticulardoesnotonlyreferto

gainful employment but to all activities having an economic impact or output or are

doneundereconomicrestraint(Glucksmann,1995).Thisallowstotakeintoaccount,for

example,theinterrelationshipsbetweengainfulemploymentandunpaidcarework,but

alsomakesitpossibletoanalyseshiftsandinterdependenciesbetweenthedifferentso-

cietal spheresand thedynamicsof thewidersocialorganisationofwork that includes

thehousehold,theprivateandpublicsectors,marketandnon-marketrelationshipsand

civilsocietyinstitutions.

Analysesofthewaysinwhichworkandemploymentaresociallyandinstitutionallyem-

beddedand contested thenneed to considermultiple spatial scales suchas the local,

IfS Working Paper 6/2017

Flecker,Pernicka,Fibichet.al.

regional, national, supranational and global. These spatial scales to use the more

commonnotionderivedfromhumangeography(Brenner,2001;Hess,2004)areseen

notasontologicallygivenbutasoutcomesofsocialconflicts.Theyarerelatedandinter-

linked invariousways rather formingdistinctandhierarchical levelsofaction. Indeed,

thecontestedconstitutionofworkoccurs throughthe linksbetweenthese levels,and

exploring these links lets us take account of processes in which social relations are

scaledupordown.

Three analytical levels are relevant when investigating the contested constitution of

workandemployment:(1)thesocialorganisationofworkandemployment,(2)thegov-

ernanceandregulationofworkand(3) the labourprocess.Thereconceptualizationof

workandthespatialperspectiveraisethefollowingquestionsoneachlevel:

Ad (1) What are the changes and continuities in the social organisation of work and

whatare their spatial implications?Thisquestiondealswith the interrelationshipsbe-

tween different societal spheres as well as changes in their respective institutional

logics.Institutionallogicsrelatetotherules,cognitivemaps,beliefsystemsandnorma-

tiveexpectationscarriedandshapedbyparticipants insocietalspheresthatguideand

givetheiractivitiesmeaning.

Ad(2)Howdolocal,national,supra-nationalandglobalgovernancestructuresandregu-

lations impact upon the constitution ofwork and employment?Howdo such govern-

ancestructures interrelatewithsocietalspheresandtheir institutional logicsondiffer-

ent spatial scales?Governancestructures refer toall agreementsbywhichpowerand

authority are exercised, involving formal and informal systems, public and private re-

gimesaswellasregulativeandnormativeregulationsandtheirenforcement.