ABSTRACT

The future of work in advanced industrial democracies is the subject of intense debate and public concern. Despite predictions that working hours would fall and leisure time would rise as society progressed, the opposite has in fact occurred. This new book contains a twofold investigation into 'the end of work' with theoretical and policy angles contributing to the growing research field on the boundaries of economics and sociology.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part |2 pages

Part I The sociological sources of contemporary pessimism

chapter 1|23 pages

Pessimistic origins

Work in classical sociology

chapter 2|25 pages

Work and the post-industrial pessimists

part |2 pages

Part II Post-industrial pessimism and three alternatives for work and society

chapter |2 pages

Introduction to Part II

chapter 3|36 pages

Work without limit?

Work and welfare in the US model

chapter 5|39 pages

Labour movements and work

Exhausted alliances or new challenges?

chapter 6|9 pages

Conclusion