At this point, we will review a little of what we brought up in the previous video class, which is, trying to understand the function of work, and our central question, “What is work? ” Considering that there are several forms of working, naming, and understanding work, some characteristics are almost consensually agreed upon. For example, work is inevitably a social activity, and given that it is inevitably social, it will always be directed towards someone, and the fruit of your work will also identify you in the contexts in which you work and in which you share your affections at work.
Therefore, work is an activity that also involves an affective dimension. Thinking about forms of work, I will point out some of them here for you. For example; housework; salaried work; volunteer work; Industrial work; rural work, and countless other forms.
As I point out these forms and nuances of work and say "housework", possibly a series of things that involve housework comes to your mind. Such as being performed within a household and some of the tasks involved in this kind of work. Volunteer work; is where we donate some time and do not receive financial compensation.
Salaried work; is characterized by an employment contract, a formal job. Look at how many notions are behind a nomenclature that seeks to direct our thinking to understand the different forms of work. These diverse forms, as I said, those inevitably consensual social aspects, like being inevitably social, driven by dynamics and working relationships, also include processes and formats agreed to in advance.
In other words, the prescription that directs how my work should happen might not necessarily occur as prescribed. Thus, this prescribed perspective of work can be realized either by the workers themselves or by a third party, which could be the work organization as an instance that permits, imposes, points out, and directs the worker's activity. When we think about this prescribed and determined activity, this determined dimension of work activity, we refer to it as a "task".
Let’s go back so we don’t get lost: work is a complex concept studied by several authors. Some look at it from a Marxist perspective of the transformation of nature with an use value for human needs. When we name work as domestic, rural, or industrial, we are directing our thinking to some activities that are included in those titles, but consensually, there is a task.
This will help us better understand what activity we are dealing with in this course. We won’t be talking about all these forms I have listed. We will focus on the salaried labor relations of a working class that sells its labor in established ways of receiving recognition for their work, this product, and the dependence in which human needs are managed within this capitalist scenario and context.
This salaried form of work takes place alongside other jobs that are carried out. In other words, every work product results from a social accumulation of understanding what work is. To build a house or a piece of furniture, we need to use several tools.
To build a house, we need bricks, cement, and the know-how to do it. I, for example, would not know how to build a house. When we observe that each element used in this construction was made by someone else, we realize that work has a way of socially organizing itself.
The hammer, the saw, and the nails. This table, for example, was built by several hands until it arrived here, and I am using it to share my work with you. Going back to the example of the table, this table is a comfortable table that allows me to place my work utensils, my books, and my computer.
And this use of the table will also depend on how it was built. It is understood that the more subjectively mobilized, and affectively engaged a worker is, the better the product delivered will be. Look what an important thing; we are talking about a table.
Let's now think about what happens in the daily work routine. I know that I need to build a table, and I know that in the end, I will have this product. But how am I to produce this product?
How do I understand the prescription and the codes that will enable me to build this table? You, attending this course; “How do you understand that we can equip ourselves with the knowledge to make our work a little healthier and more enjoyable? ” It is in this sense that we need to consider that our emotions affect our work.
How I feel when I get home after work, after fulfilling my task; how I'm going to get ready for work the next day; how I rest before going to work. All these elements constitute the relational dimension of work. Work has a historicizing and a historicized function.
“Janice, what does that mean? ” Historicizing, because how work is accumulated from socially shared experiences and knowledge helps us transform ourselves, and the medium we are in. Historicized, because there is already a story behind that work, which is not one thing, but all these elements and functions that help us recognize the social space we occupy.
So, I ask you; “have you ever stopped to think about professional fulfillment and your identity in face of this professional fulfillment? ” The term “professional fulfillment” has been somewhat misconstrued, as if there were an ideal form of professional fulfillment. In this course, we are considering that professional fulfillment has to do with how the workers themselves understand their work, and whether this work makes sense and mobilizes people and their lives in a pleasurable way.
So, I ask you, “Do you enjoy your activity? " "Does it make sense for you, the people you live with, and your work environment? " "Do the way you work and the product you deliver outside your personal needs make sense?
