The meaning of work: some arguments for the importance of culture

This paper is concerned with examining the meaning of different forms of work found within the EU. Despite the increasing acknowledgement of the im-portance of the diversity of work forms within Europe, both within the Commission and the European academic literature, it is argued that exist-ing formulations are highly problematic. Existing research, both academic and policy-related, is shown to be characterized by a bewildering terminology, which is often used interchangeably, and which works to reinscribe existing lines of power within the EU. Moreover, this work is shown to be theor-etically problematic. The centrality of distinct measurable categories to representations of the di-versity of contemporary work within the EU is argued to be a way of thinking which constructs dif-ference in terms of statistical differences, which encourages homogenizing and oppositional repre-sentations of North and South, and which also facilitates thinking as the same that which may b