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The way large numbers of people in the developed economies sell their time, skills and efforts in the 21st Century world of paid work is damaging to their health, well-being and relationships. They are required to commit more to the organisations they work for, who then subject them to an intensification of the expectations related to their performance claims Peter Kelly. In The Self as Enterprise, he analyses the various injunctions and incitements to develop new work ethics reflecting the way people practice their freedom in relation to the world of paid work. This is an important contribution to the debate about the nature of work related identities and the consequences of the intensification of the work regimes in which these identities are regulated and displayed. For anyone interested in how all aspects of workers' lives are now seen as performance related and consequently of interest to their employers.
List of contents
Contents: From Kevin 07 to Kevin 24/7; New work ethics and the self as enterprise; After (a) method; Michel Foucault and the care of a self; Flexible capitalism and the Brazilianisation of work?; The spirit of 21st century capitalism; Better than sex, and toil and drudgery; Stress and the edge of chaos; The body, mind and soul of the self as enterprise; 24/7 and the problem of work-life balance; Conclusion: le laisser-faire, c’est fini; References; Index.
About the author
Peter Kelly is Deputy Head of School (Research and Innovation), School of Education, RMIT University, Australia. He is a social theorist and researcher specialising in youth studies, social theory and globalisation. Most recently he has worked in partnership with Mission Australia, a third sector organisation that operates a social enterprise training and employment program for marginalised, unemployed young people. The action learning project examined the organisational and identify practices that influence young people's experiences of this program. Kelly co-authored the book Working in Jamie's Kitchen: Salvation, Passion and Young Workers, which used the manufactured drama of the TV series to examine the ways in which marginalised young people are required to transform themselves to secure a precarious form of salvation in globalised labour markets. His work on the evolution of a 'professional identity' for Australian Football League footballers has also been published.
Summary
The indications are everywhere. At the start of the 21st Century the ways in which large numbers of people in the developed economies sell their time, skills and efforts in the world of paid work are damaging to their health, well-being and relationships. These ways of working require them to commit more to the organisations they work for.
