"Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. Institute for Human Resources (904) 428-9609 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]" [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 08:35:29 -0700 From: Gary Chapman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: FW -- Bibliographic pointer on future of work For those interested in books on the subject of the future of work, and especially on the role of technology in shaping work, two new books have appeared recently: Stanley Aronowitz and William DiFazio, *The Jobless Future: Sci-Tech and the Dogma of Work*, University of Minnesota Press, 1994. 392 pages, hardcover, $25. Jeremy Rifkin, *The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era*, Forward by Robert Heilbroner, Putnam, 1995, 350 pages, hardcover, $25. Both of these books are exhaustive, dense, and comprehensive, although quite different. The Aronowitz and DiFazio book, while exceptionally well-written, is an academic book and the reader probably needs some exposure to the terms and concepts of social theory, economics, Marxian analysis, psychology, and especially critical theory. It's also an excellent review of the literature, including Braverman, Zuboff, the Frankfurt School, and many others. The Rifkin book, on the other hand, is not theoretical at all, but is an almost overwhelming collection of data, stories, quotes, history, and information supporting Rifkin's contention that we're busy engineering a world without jobs. Both books are warnings about the development of a "two-tier" society of people who are unemployed or underemployed versus the "knowledge elite" that is steadily diminishing in numbers. Both have suggestions about what to do about this global dilemma, which the three authors regard as the most important social question facing us for the next fifty to a hundred years, such as shortening the work week, changing the concept of "work," and adjusting the very notion of identity in Western culture. I must add that the opening chapters of the Aronowitz and DiFazio book are the best description and explanation of our current situation that I have yet seen in print. Gary Chapman Coordinator The 21st Century Project LBJ School of Public Affairs University of Texas Austin, TX Electronic mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
