The End of Work
Encyclopedia
The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era is a non-fiction book by American economist Jeremy Rifkin
, published in 1995 by Putnam Publishing Group.
In 1995, Rifkin contended that worldwide unemployment would increase as information technology eliminates tens of millions of job
s in the manufacturing, agricultural and service sectors. He traced the devastating impact of automation
on blue-collar, retail and wholesale
employees. While a small elite of corporate managers and knowledge worker
s reap the benefits of the high-tech world economy
, the American middle class
continues to shrink and the workplace becomes ever more stressful
.
As the market economy
and public sector
decline, Rifkin predicted the growth of a third sector—voluntary and community-based service organizations—that will create new jobs with government support to rebuild decaying neighborhoods
and provide social services. To finance this enterprise, he advocated scaling down the military budget
, enacting a value added tax
on nonessential goods and services
and redirecting federal and state funds to provide a "social wage" in lieu of welfare payments to third-sector workers.
political philosopher George Caffentzis
concluded that Rifkin's argument is flawed because it is based on a technological determinism
that does not take into account the dynamics of employment and technological change in the capitalist era
.
Jeremy Rifkin
Jeremy Rifkin is an American economist, writer, public speaker, political advisor and activist. He is the founder and president of the Foundation On Economic Trends...
, published in 1995 by Putnam Publishing Group.
In 1995, Rifkin contended that worldwide unemployment would increase as information technology eliminates tens of millions of job
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
s in the manufacturing, agricultural and service sectors. He traced the devastating impact of automation
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
on blue-collar, retail and wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
employees. While a small elite of corporate managers and knowledge worker
Knowledge worker
Knowledge workers in today's workforce are individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within a specific subject area. They will often advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development. They use research...
s reap the benefits of the high-tech world economy
World economy
The world economy, or global economy, generally refers to the economy, which is based on economies of all of the world's countries, national economies. Also global economy can be seen as the economy of global society and national economies – as economies of local societies, making the global one....
, the American middle class
American middle class
The American middle class is a social class in the United States. While the concept is typically ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary social scientists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
continues to shrink and the workplace becomes ever more stressful
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
.
As the market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
and public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
decline, Rifkin predicted the growth of a third sector—voluntary and community-based service organizations—that will create new jobs with government support to rebuild decaying neighborhoods
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...
and provide social services. To finance this enterprise, he advocated scaling down the military budget
Military budget
A military budget of an entity, most often a nation or a state, is the budget and financial resources dedicated to raising and maintaining armed forces for that entity. Military budgets reflect how much an entity perceives the likelihood of threats against it, or the amount of aggression it wishes...
, enacting a value added tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
on nonessential goods and services
Goods and services
In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility. It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax....
and redirecting federal and state funds to provide a "social wage" in lieu of welfare payments to third-sector workers.
Critical reception
A number of economists and sociologists have been critical of Jeremy Rifkin for being one of the major contributors to the "end of work" discourse and literature of the 1990s. AutonomistAutonomism
Autonomism refers to a set of left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. As an identifiable theoretical system it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerist communism...
political philosopher George Caffentzis
George Caffentzis
George Caffentzis is a political philosopher and an autonomist Marxist. He founded the Midnight Notes Collective, is a founder member of the co-ordinator of the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa and a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Maine.-Selected articles:*, LibCom,...
concluded that Rifkin's argument is flawed because it is based on a technological determinism
Technological determinism
Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen , an American sociologist...
that does not take into account the dynamics of employment and technological change in the capitalist era
Technocapitalism
Technocapitalism is a term used to describe the changes in capitalism brought about by the emergence of high technology sectors in the economy.-New organizations:Luis Suarez-Villa, in his 2009 book Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological...
.
See also
- Luddite fallacyLuddite fallacyThe Luddite fallacy is an opinion in development economics related to the belief that labour-saving technologies increase unemployment by reducing demand for labour. The concept is named after the Luddites of early nineteenth century England.The original Luddites were hosiery and lace workers in...
- Deindustrialization
- Other books by Jeremy Rifkin:
- The European DreamThe European DreamThe European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream is a book, by Jeremy Rifkin published in September 2004. Rifkin describes the emergence and evolution of the European Union over the past five decades, as well as key differences between European and...
(2004) - The Empathic CivilizationThe Empathic CivilizationThe Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis is a 2010 non-fiction book written by Jeremy Rifkin. It connects the evolution of communication and energy development in civilizations with psychological and economic development in humans...
(2010)
- The European Dream