Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches

Patrick Bottazzi

doi:10.3390/su11143852

Abstract

Going to work has become such a ritualized activity for the modern human that few people challenge its relevance from a sustainability perspective. Since the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of unlimited growth with the aim of jobs creation has been dramatically associated with a massive social-ecological degradation that puts the Earth system at risk. In recent decades, a number of heterodox theories and policies are reconsidering our relationship with work in view of contemporaneous social-ecological challenges. This paper offers critical review of five contrasting approaches. Those promoting ‘green jobs’ consider the possibility of transforming ecological constraints into economic opportunities by incentivising eco-efficient innovations and generating new jobs. Conversely, critical approaches, such as working-time reduction (WTR), labour environmentalism, political ecology of work, and contributive economy and justice, defend decommodifying work to liberate pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. We additionally present two opposing scenarios mainly inspired by critical theories. One illustrates the root causes of systemic lock-in leading to the present social-ecological work-life degradation, while the other illustrates perspectives on the ‘politics of free time’ and contributive economy and justice oriented towards building capabilities, and workers’ emancipation and justice in search for more sustainable relationships with ecosystems.

Highlights

The Globalised Crises of Work and the EnvironmentIn the last few decades, the dominant model of economic development promoting unlimited growth and endless consumption has been radically challenged by those raising concerns about the limited bearing capacity of our planet [1,2,3]
All the approaches presented in this paper provide different conceptual and practical instruments to help transforming work according to contemporaneous social-environmental challenges
On the one side green job, working-time reduction (WTR) and labour environmentalism propose to reform the current system by supporting appropriate legislations and incentivising technical solutions

Summary

Introduction

In the last few decades, the dominant model of economic development promoting unlimited growth and endless consumption has been radically challenged by those raising concerns about the limited bearing capacity of our planet [1,2,3]. By transition we mean a “fundamental social, technological, institutional and economic change from one societal regime or dynamic equilibrium to another” ([4], p.1) This includes the idea of transformation which refers to a “fundamental shifts in human and environmental interactions and feedbacks” ([4] p.1, [5]). Billions of people are forced to ‘bricolage strategies’ to capture little revenue far from the classical definition of work as employment [20] These alternative ways of working, which are strongly rooted in local solidarity networks that combine multiple activities and often use recyclable materials, suggest another conception of the relationship between work, economy and ecology closer to a post-growth perspective [21,22,23]. It follows a political ecology perspective to critically discuss those approaches and propose some lines of thought towards sustainable transitions and transformations

Materials and Methods

Green Economy and Green Jobs

André Gorz’s Political Ecology of Work and Free Time

Contributive Economy and Contributive Justice

Discussion and Conclusions