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ABSTRACTS
PROKLA 150 Nick Kratzer, Wolfgang Menz, Sarah Nies, Dieter Sauer: The Regulation of Performance as an Area of “Embattled Work”. Proceeding the assumption that the crisis of Fordism has led to a new regime of rationalisation which can be characterised by a market-oriented mode of production this article argues that the three major trends of development within the area of policies on performance – precarisation, standardisation and subjectivation – should not be seen as different or even rival interpretations of the current developments but rather as contradictory but still interrelated elements of the process of “marketisation”. Therefore, a critical labour policy needs to address all of the three trends and to combine a perspective of resistance with a strategy of appropriation of the new forms of market-oriented control. Ingrid Artus: Precarious Corporate Culture and crazy conflicts. Management control by repressive integration in the precarious service sector. Two case studies in multinational service enterprises (fast food and transport sector) show that strategies of corporate culture are quite efficient for management control of precarious and ‘poor work’. The article discusses the problems of individual and collective interest representation within these special kind of employment relations, the reasons why struggles for respect and justice seem to be ‘crazy conflicts’ there and in which context nevertheless occur ruptures in the system of absolute management control. Ingo Matuschek, Frank Kleemann, G. Günther Voß: Subjectivated Taylorization and the domination of workers. In debates concerning recent developments in the sphere of work, Taylorized and subjectivated forms of work (where workers coordinate tasks on their own, and indirect forms of control are employed) are considered to oppose each other. There almost seems to be a consensus that Taylorized and subjectivated forms of control belong to two distinct domains of the sphere of work: Manufacturing work involving little skill on the one hand, highly skilled and service work on the other. This article argues that the subjectivation process of work also takes place in low-skill jobs. Particularly in work environments structured by information technologies, both ideal types of work organization become intertwined and constitute a distinct mode of work organization: subjectivated Taylorization. A prominent example is call center work. On the basis of own empirical case studies, both management strategies of subjectivated Taylorization and reactions on the workers' side are analyzed. The paper concludes with a reflection on general changes the logic of control, and domination of workers. Mario Candeias: The new self-employed: between entrepreneurial spirits and precarity. The entrepreneur is the central figure in the neoliberal discourse. The trend towards self-employment is therefore interpretated as a sign for entrepreneurial thinking becoming the basis for general interest articluation, far beyond particular class interest. But in fact the real situation of most of the self-employed clearly points to a social position as independent workers, entangled in contradictions between self-management and a new sense of freedom on the one and harsh dependencies and self-exploitation on the other side. The article tries to elaborate on specific differences and common elements between workers and self-employed. It becomes clear, that the independent workers are part of the rising precariat and could share common interests with other precarious workers. What is needed is to overcome the very individualistic habits of the self-employed. Far from beeing sufficient, new forms of collective organisation such as the Euromayday or an Italian union for precarious independent workers are pointing into this direction. Christoph Hermann: The Struggle for Working Time: An Overview. This article examines the development of weekly working hours put in by wage labour since the introduction of the 40-hour week. It analyses the changes in different periods based on the contentious relationship between socially necessary and actually laboured working hours resulting in predominantly extensive and intensive accumulation regimes. To understand the recent surge in working hours, so one of the main arguments, one has to account for the role of competition as driver of capitalist development and as a mode of social dominance. Conversely the struggle for working time must be understood as a struggle for the limitation of competition through working-class solidarity and the manifestation of a political economy of the working class. The same solidarity also demands for a new definition and a new distribution of socially necessary working time, including paid and unpaid working hours. Sophie Jänicke, Kay Ohl, Hilde Wagner: It’s time! The article discusses the changing working time conditions in Germany. The development of trade union policies towards working time is considered and the actual concepts of the metal workers union (IG Metall) are presented. Robert Hinke: ‘Eastanizing’. Challenges for the trade unions in Eastern Germany. With German unification the western and the eastern part of Germany were reunited to a new economy and social system, but not to a uniform one. The upcoming disparities are caused by more than the well known regional inequalities. In many aspects eastern Germany differentiates from the old West-Germany, in particular to the unconventional activity spheres of the trade unions. But neither the trade union research nor the well known trade union strategy recommendations pay attention to the special conditions in the new regions. Martin Beckmann: The role of financial investors in the transformation of the German economy. The German economy, for long time characterised by a bank based financial system with capital and personal linkages between the main financial and industrial economies, has been transformed since the 1990s to a market orientated economy. Particularly German banks and insurance companies sold many of their stakes in industrial companies. This gap has been filled by new financial investors like pension funds, hedge funds and private equity. Raimund Feld: France has not yet succumbed: Some remarks on the riots in the 'banlieues' and on Sarkozy's 'authoritarian populism'. In this rejoinder to K. Lindners article in Prokla 148 on the 2005 riots in France, R. Feld pleads for more of a critical distance in relation to the (majority of the) rioters, pointing e.g. to the question of sexism. He argues, however, that concepts such as 'Lumpenproletariat' are not appropriate either, and that a more dynamic approach is needed. When it comes to the question of 'Sarkozysm', he rejects the assumption that an authoritarian populism has come about and already achieved outright hegemony. Rather, the opposition is down but not out, and the question of purchasing power may soon provide it with some opportunities to make its voice heard again. Klaus Lederer: Bringing back decisions in the political arena.' The text is dealing with the article (PROKLA 4/2007) of Henrik Lebuhn on urban entrepreneurial policies based on the example of Berlin. The policy of the town of Berlin is a complex and contradictory process which includes more and other things than being a NPM model town. Lebuhn's analysis of the conflicts and the lines of debate is strongly reduced, because he doesn't take into consideration at all the entire development of Berlin since 1990. Contrary to that the autor argues that especially strategic defects of the Berlin left have led to the weakness of alternative political approaches. Instead of eluding the question of an appropriate handling of public resources the left should pick it up head-on and bring it back into the political arena of the town. Henrik Lebuhn: Party Politics and Grassroots Movements in the City - Chances and Limitations. Responding to Klaus Lederer’s critique on an earlier article written by the author, the text highlights the preformation of the urban political arena via New Public Management, and looks at the different roles that progressive parties and grassroots movements play under these conditions. Zu den Autoren Ingrid Artus ist Soziologin an der TU München Martin Beckmann ist Politologe und arbeitet bei der IG Metall Mario Candeias ist Politikwissenschaftler bei der Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung und Redakteur der Zeitschrift „Das Argument“ Raimund Feld arbeitet zur schwedischen und französischen Politik Christoph Hermann ist Sozialwissenschafter an der Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt (FORBA) in Wien Robert Hinke ist ver.di-Gewerkschaftssekretär in Bayern/Oberpfalz, bis vor kurzem am Institut für Soziologie der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena Sophie Jänicke ist Gewerkschaftssekretärin im Funktionsbereich Tarifpolitik beim Vorstand der IG Metall Frank Kleemann arbeitet am Institut für Soziologie der TU Chemnitz Nick Kratzer ist Soziologe und arbeitet am Institut für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, ISF München e.V. Henrik Lebuhn unterrichtet Urban Studies am San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) und ist Mitglied in der PROKLA-Redaktion Klaus Lederer lehrt an der FHTW/FHVR Berlin und ist Abgeordneter und Landesvorsitzender von DIE LINKE Berlin Ingo Matuschek arbeitet am Institut für Soziologie der TU Chemnitz Wolfgang Menz ist Soziologe und arbeitet am Institut für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, ISF München e.V. Sarah Nies ist Soziologin und arbeitet am Institut für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, ISF München e.V. Kay Ohl ist Leiter des Funktionsbereichs Tarifpolitik beim Vorstand der IG Metall Dieter Sauer lehrt Soziologie an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena und arbeitet am Institut für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung, ISF München e.V. G. Günter Voß lehrt am Institut für Soziologie der TU Chemnitz Hilde Wagner ist Ressortleiterin Grundsatzfragen im Funktionsbereich Tarifpolitik beim Vorstand der IG Metall
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