A Way o/Working D.M. Dooling 1979, U7 pp., $3.SO paper, from: Anchor Pressl Doubleday Garden City, NY 11530 The values embraced by the workforce todav - both in labor and the services sector - present a clear contrast to those of even a decade ago. Whereas work values previously focused on the highest paying and the most prestigious positions, studies show a new set of personal values are setting a context for redefining the meaning of work. A 1977 Harris poll showed some 80 percent of the people hoped that society would choose human values over material values. Rather than increasing productivity, a majority indicated they preferred attaining inner rewards from work. ACCESS: Working "women's work." Economist Wassely Leontief notes in the article 'The Distribution of Work and IIIcome" that technology 'is replacing the human workforce, first through musclesaving machines, and now through intellectual machines. Since the start of the industrial revolution, machines have done more work, leaving less work for people. As a result, there has been a steady shortening of the work week, so that remaining work can be shared. But since 1950, the work week has remained at about 42 hours, and unemployment has steadily risen. Leontief suggests that further sharing of remaining work must occur if our society is to survive. - Carlos Portela New Worlc Schedules/ora Chtlnging Society Jerome Roscow, Director of Study c... ;: 100 Page 2.3--RALN--Dec. 82/Ja I MINING AND CONSTRUCTION 90 80 •. .. - '.''-''-..-...-------.....---. ' . 70 60 MANUFACTURING GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES - 50 3 ""'2 d -" .Ie SERVICES 30 20 WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE J "" 10 ~ ".,:: ~ E o 1 1920 19801 £ ;RANSPqRTATION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES ~ r 1950 Current trends in worker desires reflect this shift towards values of work autonomy: flexible work schedules, opportunities for creativity, worker participation in management, choice and change in job roles, greater job fulfillment, whole health maintenance, and a harmonious work environment. This book conveys a fresh sense of direction that our work and vocations seem to be taking. The seven contributors to A Way of Working help articula te a lost value of work as craft, work as a spiritually directed activity, gaining its motivation from a higher source than a plant foreman. Simone Weil, author of The Need for Roots, concluded prior to her death 'in 1943, "Our age has its own particular mission, or vocation, the creation of a civilization founded upon the spiritual nature of work." Although A Way of Working speaks to its reader on a very personal level, this provocative book can help bring us a little closer to that civilization. - Kris Nelson Meclumizalion o/Worlc Scientific American PO Box 5919 New York, NY 10164 September1982, $2.00 This special issue on the mechanization of work contains several good articles that focus on the state of mechanization in various areas of society with such wondrous statements as, "More than 80 percent of U.S. mineral needs are met by less than one percent of the labor force." Articles include descriptions of mechanization in agriculture, commerce, design and manufacturing, office work, and 1981, 128pp., From: Work in America Institute, Inc. 700 White Plains Rd. Scarsdale, NY 10583 This report clearly outlines the entire range of new work arrangements for the 1980s, offering fifty recommendations that include the following: flexitime (employees choose their starting and quitting times); variable day (work of variable durations per day with contract for total number of hours in a week or month); flexiplace (changes in the location and .schedule of work); permanent part time employment; job sharing; work sharing (instead of layoffs, temporary reduction in working hours); and compressed work weeks (reallocating work time over the week). One section discusses the community benefits from such alternatives to the standard nine-to-five, including fuel savings and reduction in air pollution. Radical Career Change: Life Beyond Worlc David Krantz 1978, $9.95 hardcover, 157pp. The Free Press 866 Third Ave. New York, NY 10022 When was the last time you considered leaving your present work for a completely different occupation? If you're like many, including myself, the idea of starting anew, doing something inwardly satisfying, pops up as often as the new moon. Quite frankly. I would love to become a beekeeper and potter about now. Focusing on white, middle-class proCOllt. all Ilext page
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