My comments about cleaning toilets in various posts
about the changing nature of work have begun to be taken too
literally.
Arthur Cordell wonders whether there is something
Freudian in the analogy, and points out that a much more unpleasant task for him
is completing his tax return.
This will do just as well as an example, except
that those who help you complete your tax returns are generally seen in a better
light than those who help you clean your toilet.
The principle is the same, however. These are
both kinds of work which need to be done. One way to do them (the very old
fashioned way) would be for everyone to do them for themselves. This is
highly inefficient, which is one of the major reasons why societies move to a
system in which labour is more specialised - ie you train to become an
accountant and as a result become better at a particular kind of work,
completing tax returns.
Some people think that until we reach the ulltimate
in this sort of specialisation we won't have fully implemented capitalism.
These people point out that outsourcing domestic activity has created all the
industries which currently exist, and that there is about 40% of human activity
which is still done domestically and that outsourcing this represents the next
great hope of an economic revival.
This may be true, but as I say to the greatest
Australian exponent of this way of thinking - thanks Phil, but I want to wipe my
own arse.....
Whether or not outsourcing everything
is the future of work is not the real question I am addressing
here. It certainly represents one alternative, and as near as I can
see one which achieves my fundamental objective (which is to create a world
which has a viable place for everyone).
It certainly, however, does not represent the sort
of world I would prefer to live in. As I colourfully said above, some
things I want to do for myself. I don't want to be defined simply as a
'doer of things for others'.
Back to toilet cleaners. In our modern world people are defined by what they do for others (after our name, the first thing we are asked for when we are introduced is 'what we do'). Hence, we have people who are defined as toilet cleaners (or, for Arthur's benefit, tax accountants). The fact is all of these people are more, so much more, than this
simplistic definition of themselves. But we focus so much on this job
approach to work that it hard for us to see behind the 'job definition' which
first confronts us.
And then, as has happened in recent years, when there aren't enough jobs to
go around, we define people as jobless and that's a whole other ball game.
So, when I talk about cleaning toilets I am not talking about a job, I am
talking about work which needs to be done and looking to find a model for how it
might be got done in the most preferred way.
Charles Brass
Chairman the futures foundation PO Box 122 Fairfield 3078 Australia phone 61 3 9459 0244 the mission of the futures foundation is
"...to engage all Australians in creating a better future..." |
- RE: [Futurework] The world of work Cordell . Arthur
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work mcandreb
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ray Evans Harrell
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Charles Brass
- RE: [Futurework] The world of work Cordell . Arthur
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Selma Singer
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Brad McCormick, Ed.D.
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ray Evans Harrell
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Brad McCormick, Ed.D.
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ray Evans Harrell
- RE: [Futurework] The world of work Charles Brass
- RE: [Futurework] The world of work Cordell . Arthur
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Selma Singer
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ray Evans Harrell
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Selma Singer
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ed Weick
- Re: [Futurework] The world of ... Selma Singer
- Re: [Futurework] The world... Ed Weick
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ed Weick
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ed Weick
- Re: [Futurework] The world of work Ed Weick