ABSTRACT
The narrow understanding of work as paid gainful employment, linked to social security, is from a historical point of view a recent phenomenon which emerged in Western Europe with industrial capitalism in the 19th century, became the global norm in the 20th century, and is now showing some signs of breaking down with the deregulation and flexibilisation of global capitalism in the 21st century. In the pre-modern domestic family-based economy, the household was a living and working community. In the industrial system, only paid employment outside the home was considered work, while unpaid household work was devalued. In the course of the globalisation of goods supply chains and of digitalisation, previously secure gainful employment is also being transformed into flexible, precarious, informal employment, even in the centres of the world economy. In order to avoid a split in society, we need counter-models to growthism, extractivism and exploitation. Studying the domestic family-based economy can provide valuable inspiration to that end.
