Work and Leisure

Postmodern work and leisure 57service sectors, and globalisation and deregulation bring with them the individualisationof the work contract. Aronowitz and Cutler (1998) contendthat we have already moved into ‘post-work’ society, in which technologicalinnovation and the deregulation of the market have combined to drasticallyreduce the requirement for human labour. With this, the salience of the workethic diminishes. Their study of the United States parallels Gorz’s (1999)arguments that all workers in Europe are now ‘makeshift’ workers, and thatthe individualisation of the work contract produces the casualisation of workexperience.In terms of stratification, most commentators argue that the salariat inWestern society now consists of four strata.Professional and executive classProfessional and executive class workers are the beneficiaries of globalisation,deregulation and privatisation. Many have experienced an exponentialincrease in salary, which is frequently augmented with bonus schemes andshare-ownership. Their power base and opportunity for accumulation haveexpanded as corporations have switched from national to trans-nationalorganisation. The increasingly flexible conditions in the market, and the continuedcompetition for monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic market share,have increased job insecurity and status anxiety and the professional andexecutive class is not immune from redundancy and unemployment. Further,as studies by Pahl (1995) and Hochschild (1997) demonstrate, members ofthis stratum often suffer acutely from time-famine, which impacts upon theirfamily life and the quality of their leisure time. Nonetheless, in financial andstatus terms, they are the winners among the post-Fordist salariat.Skilled middle managers, professionals, technical andservice staffSkilled middle managers, professionals, technical and service staff are salariedworkers who are often well paid, and enjoy access to bonus schemes, andsometimes share-ownership schemes. They are situated at the cutting edge ofinnovation and charged with the task of operationalising flexible accumulation.Gorz’s (1999: 51) estimate that these ‘elite knowledge workers’ representno more than 1 per cent of the workforce is perhaps tendentious, since hisargument is dedicated to the proposition that post-Fordism benefits only aprivileged cadre of the salariat. However, that they form a small proportion ofthe workforce is not in doubt. Yet, although privileged, the knowledge elitehas not escaped the experience of job insecurity. A significant trend in thisclass is the shift towards temporary, fixed-term contracts as the typicalemployment contract. Attendant with this is the trend towards ‘portfolioworking’, anxiety about unemployment and the increased workload involved