WHAT DOES WORK MEAN 2025 AND BEYOND?

There are multiple visions of the future of work. Indeed, there are as many visions as there are commentators. Despite this diversity, however, a similar narrative structure can be identified across nearly all of the contrasting visions. To understand the nature of this storyline, consider the following popular visions of the future of work: Products and services will be increasingly produced and delivered by people in formal jobs meaning that informal work (e.g., subsistence production, unpaid exchange) will disappear almost entirely from the economic landscape (the ‘formalization ’ of work thesis); Capitalism will spread its tentacles ever wider and deeper to colonize the few remaining vestiges of the world that remain untouched by its grip (i.e., variously called the ‘commodification’, ‘marketization ’ or ‘commercialization ’ thesis); An open world economy is emerging with businesses increasingly operating in a de-regulated seamless global market-place (i.e., the ‘globalization ’ thesis) as regulated national-level economies disappear; Industrial society will be replaced by post-industrial societies (i.e., the ‘post