Talk by Charles Handy on the changing role of work in people's lives and in society itself. Handy begins the talk describing several of the contradictions and inconsistencies that confront people in the modern economy as they live working lives. He goes on to list the order of the talks and what topics will be covered in each session before moving on to discuss the history of work in Britain and how the nation is the inheritor of two work traditions, the Greek and the Roman. However, Handy indicates a third tradition, the Protestant work ethic, which holds that it is man's moral duty to work to improve God's creation, and this idea has been translated into what Handy calls an accepted right to work, as represented by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He proceeds to describe how women have now been acknowledged as equal to men and entitled to labor as they please, despite previous traditions not holding them as equal. The lack of sufficient jobs, however, makes people feel cheated, and Handy goes on to note that this lack is the result of two forces, the downward slope of a Kondratiev wave combined with a double structural shift. Handy recommends that governments allow the downward slope to take place, so that new technologies can take over and guide the economy where they will. After explaining different aspects of the economy’s arrangement, Handy determines that the current problems the economy is facing come from all the additional people entering the workforce looking for jobs, rather than a reduction in the number of jobs, solely. Handy closes the talk recommending that Britain prepare for and accept a large and increasingly growing “informal sector” of the economy with part-time jobs, but cautions that this development will negatively impact the most vulnerable populations in the emerging economy.
Handy, Charles B Capitalism Universal Declaration of Human Rights United Nations Kondrátiev, Nikolai Dmitrievich Hutchings, Gordon Job security Job satisfaction Job enrichment Unemployment Work Protestant work ethic Protestant Reformation
Source
Talk by Charles Handy on the changing role of work in people's lives and in society itself, February 4, 1987; Charles Handy Papers; Box 18, Folder 17; 17 pages
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