ABSTRACT
More than a decade after the financial crash, those who caused it have seen their wealth and status largely reinstated, while those who bore the cost in terms of austerity have seen their wages largely stagnate, and work conditions deteriorate, as part of a general transfer of wealth and power from labour to capital in the last four decades. Whatever the supposed hegemony of neo-liberalism, there has pertained a prevalent economic model that elevates the market over the state and accepts inequality and uneven development as the price of efficiency and reward for enterprise. As a result, a sizeable section face the insecurity of precarious work in the gig economy.
How can we re-register the life-work balance, and in the process classify activities we regard as important, like care for children and elderly, as valid ‘work’ with high social dividend? Gaining greater social control over what is predominantly a private economy worldwide demands for democracy to be re-thought and reclaimed. Put simply, many seek greater control over their lives, but are put off by what passes for politics, the issue of the next chapter.
