09:30 to 10:30
Closing lecture

Work is not a commodity. The Nature and Meaning of Work in the 21st Century

Alain Supiot
09:30 to 10:30
    Amphithéâtre Marguerite de Navarre, Site Marcelin Berthelot
    Open to all, subject to availability
    -

    Abstract

    A way out of the social and ecological crisis will not be found by dismantling the welfare state or by striving to restore it as a historical monument. It lies in rethinking its structure in light of the world as it is and as we would like it to be. And, today as in the past, the cornerstone will be the status accorded to work.
    In the face of the moral, social, ecological, and financial failure of neoliberalism, the future of work in the 21st century lies in its emancipation from the exclusive reign of commodities. As the case of research work demonstrates, the professional statuses that have resisted the dynamics of the Total Market are therefore not the fossils of a world destined to disappear, but rather the seeds of a truly human system of work, one that makes room for the meaning and substance of work—that is, for the fulfillment of a creative endeavor.

    Documents and Media

    The closing lecture is available in several languages

    • Labour is not a commodity: The content and meaning of work in the twenty-first century (traduction anglaise)

      Supiot A., Labour is not a commodity: The content and meaning of work in the twenty-first century, « International Labour Review », vol. 160 (2021) n° 1, pp. 1-20.

    • El trabajo no es una mercancía. Contenido y sentido del trabajo en el siglo XXI (traduction espagnole)

      Supiot A., El trabajo no es una mercancía. Contenido y sentido del trabajo en el siglo XXI, Santa Fé (Argentine) Ediciones Universidad del Litoral, 2020, trad. Gonzalo Sozzo, préface Adrian Goldin, 56 p. ISBN : 9789877492491 ; 2e édition Buenos-Aires, Siglo XXI, 124 p. ISBN : 9789878011950 (complété en seconde partie par la traduction espagnole de La justice au travail. Quelques leçons de l’histoire). Édition numérique en libre accès OpenEditions Books EAN électronique 9782722606319.

    • Η εργασία δεν είναι εμπόρευμα: Το περιεχόμενο και το νόημα της εργασίας στον 21ο αιώνα (traduction grecque)

      Supiot A., Η εργασία δεν είναι εμπόρευμα: Το περιεχόμενο και το νόημα της εργασίας στον 21ο αιώνα. Επιθεώρησις Εργατικού Δικαίου (« Revue de droit du travail ») tome 79, 10/2020, trad. Evangelos Angelopoulos, pp. 1131-1151. ISSN 1107-0439.

    • Il lavoro non è una merce. Contenuto e significato del lavoro nel Ventunesimo secolo (traduction italienne)

      Supiot A., Il lavoro non è una merce. Contenuto e significato del lavoro nel Ventunesimo secolo, « Sociologia del lavoro », n. 164/2022. I, pp. 7-29, ISSN 972-554X.

    • Praca nie jest towarem. Treść i znaczenie pracy w XXI wieku (traduction polonaise)

      Supiot A., Praca nie jest towarem. Treść i znaczenie pracy w XXI wieku, trad. Maria Schneider, préface Anna Musiała, Poznań, Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu 2022, 71 p. ISBN 9788396663405.

    Speaker(s)

    Alain Supiot

    Professor at the Collège de France

    See also

    Alain Supiot, chair The Social State and Globalization: A Legal Analysis of Forms of Solidarity
    Opening and closing lectures