ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses work in light of the transformation of the conditions of contemporary global and neoliberal economy, focuses on the European identity – specifically, on the latest legal, socio-economic and political trends such as deregulation, flexibility, deindustrialization, pervasive enlargement of markets, digitalization and virtual relationships, social polarization and migratory fluxes. It investigates the contradictions of the relationship between work and identity from both legal and humanistic perspectives, such as the fact that very often labour does not produce any social integration but, on the contrary, hides new and old forms of alienation. The book deals with the connection between the crisis of labour and the new forms of exploitation and slavery – this particular feature is connected to the concept of “mobilization” and to the disappearance of the distinction between the time for work and the time for personal life.
