57849 - Labour Policies

Course contents

The course intends to deep and analyze the study of the latest transformations of work and industrial relations in a post-wage perspective. In this way, assuming the crisis of the traditional labor status means questioning the emerging aspects of the productive context (cognitivization, entrepreneurship and precariousness of work) within which the extraction of value takes place today. Promoting and managing labor policies today must, first and foremost, to mean understanding what has been called the digital revolution of the economy in general and its new business models, more specifically. The sharing economy, the platform capitalism, the gig economy, digital labor, etc. are all key concepts that will be analyzed to try to give an account of what Antonio Casilli has recently defined as the onset of a new generalized regime of «marchandage», where this concept indicates how the decline of the wage contract, intimately linked to the organizational model of the fordist firm, makes possible, on the one side, the emergence of unpublished work activities confused between the sphere of production and the sphere of social reproduction, and on the other, the reappearance of forms of purchase and sale of the performance which we seemed to had been definitively overcome. The centrality of the sphere of social reproduction in the processes of extraction of value will also be themed starting from feminist reflection on the theme. The latter is a reflection that cannot be circumvented if one wishes to understand the logic of contemporary capitalist exploitation.

Readings/Bibliography

- Casilli, A. (2020) Schiavi del clic. Perché lavoriamo tutti per il nuovo capitalismo?, Feltrinelli.

- Marrone M. (2021), Rights Against The Machines! Le ambivalenze del lavoro digitale e le lotte dei rider contro le piattaforme, Mimesis.

- Into the black box (a cura di), (2021), Capitalismo 4.0. Genealogia della rivoluzione digitale, Meltemi.

- Chistè L., Del Re A., Forti E., (2020), Oltre il lavoro domestico. Il lavoro delle donne tra produzione e riproduzione, ombre corte.

An accessory bibliography will be provided for students attending the course. The student can, in agreement with the teacher, replace parts of the texts presented above with personal in-depth proposals.

Teaching methods

The course is mainly based on the teacher's lectures. However, part of the course will be organized in order to facilitate classroom discussion and the organization of working groups, through which to support the deepening of the issues. The presentation in class of the projects of the groups will have a weight in the overall student evaluation. During the course multimedia supports will be used and documentaries and / or films concerning the course topics, will be viewed and discussed.

Assessment methods

The learning assessment will be in oral form.

If the student actively attends the course, a first part of the evaluation will depend on the student performance in an exam at the end of the course, a second part of the evaluation will instead depend on the quality of the presentations (and subsequent debate) of the activities carried out and managed by the working groups shaped during the course under the coordination of the teacher.

Teaching tools

To support the lessons, the teacher will often use multimedia tools available in the classrooms where the lessons will be held. Finally, some complementary teaching materials will be made available to the students on the dedicated portal unibo.

Office hours

See the website of Federico Chicchi