The End of Work

by Jeremy Rifkin
Civilization Structured Around
Concept of Work
Paleolithic hunter/gatherer
Neolithic farmer
Medieval craftsman
Assembly line worker
Today human labor being eliminated from
production process
Unemployment Figure
U.S. corporations eliminating 2 million jobs
annually
New jobs in low-paying sectors and
temporary employment
2/3 of new jobs created in U.S. were at the
bottom of the wage pyramid
layoffs from big corporations running 13%
over 1993
Substituting Software for
Employees
Companies replacing humans with thinking
machines
75% of labor force in industrial relations
work on simple repetitive tasks
Future of U.S.--more than 90 million jobs in
a force of 124 million could be replaced by
machines
Re-engineering
Companies restructuring their organizations
to make them computer friendly
This resulted in a 2.8% productivity
increase (largest rise in 20 years)
Could eliminate 1-2.5 million jobs per year
in the foreseeable future
Re-engineering
Manufacturing sector most affected
Less than 17% of workforce engaged in
blue-collar work
Service and white collar sector are reducing
Over past 10 years, more than 3 million
white collar jobs eliminated in the U.S.
Productivity still increasing even though
workforce is shrinking
Unemployment Rates for 1993
More than 8.7 million unemployed
6.1 million worked part but wanted full time
1 million were discouraged so they quit job
hunting
16 million Americans (13% of labor force)
unemployed or underemployed
New realities
Information and telecommunication
threaten tens of millions of jobs
New products and services require fewer
workers to produce and operate
High-tech industries create fewer jobs than
they replace
Laborsaving technology cuts costs and
increases profits
New Realities
Companies produce same output at less
costs with fewer workers
Demand weakened by unemployment , so
businesses extending easy credit
Middle-class wage earners nearing the
limits of their borrowing capacity
Retraining For What?
Where will retrained workers find
alternative employment?
Gap in educational levels too wide between
blue collar and high-tech jobs
Hope of being retrained for a high-tech job
is out of reach for many
Not enough jobs available to absorb
dislocated workers
The Shrinking Public Sector
Public focused on need to cut spending
Goal-- to eliminate 252,000 federal workers
Thinning middle-management to save $108
billion
Computer systems streamline procurement
practices
Federal, state, and local governments are re-
engineering and cutting personnel
Visions of Techno-Paradise in
the Late 1800s
Industrialized lives provided context for
mechanical view of the world
Technological frame of reference
permanent feature of American life
Humans thought of themselves as
instruments of production
New self-image reinforced emerging
productive industrial economy
The Modern Era of Efficiency
Efficiency--maximum yield that could be
processed in the shortest time, using the
least amount of resources
Efficiency dominates workplace because of
adaptability to machine and human culture
Efficiency shortens the amount of personal
labor required to perform a job
Efficiency results in more personal wealth
and free time
The Modern Era of Efficiency
Efficiency remade society to the standards
of the machine culture
Unemployment blamed on inefficient
methods of instruction to youth
Efficiency is felt everywhere, and demand
becoming more insistent on it
Efficiency craze carried into private lives
From Democracy to Technology
Civil Engineer new modern hero
Organizational ability and efficiency new
coveted values of industrialized America
Technocrats favored rule by science
rather than rule by man
Postwar generation reminded of
technologys awesome power
From Democracy to Technology
Dream of techno-paradise within sight
Technologies promise a near-workerless
world in the coming century
Marketplace generates profit, with no
thought of generating leisure for displaced
workers
Will high-tech Information Age emphasize
production, consumption and work or free
humanity to journey into a post-market era?
Crossing into the High-Tech
Frontier
Near-workerless society final stage of shift
in economic paradigms
Transition from biological to mechanical
sources of power
Thinking machines perform conceptual,
managerial, and administrative functions
and coordinate flow of production


Machines That Think
Computers taking on tasks of increasing
complexity
Artificial intelligence may outthink humans
by the next century
Some computers can talk
Scientists hope to humanize their machines
Computers may soon be seen as intelligent
beings

The Plugged-In Species
First-generation computers were
cumbersome
Second-generation reduced size and cost of
computers and increased efficiency
Third-generation had integrated circuitry
Fourth-generation based on
microtechnology and microchips
Putting Computers to Work
Business leaders excited over new
automation revolution
New generation of computer-driven
numerical control said to mark our
emancipation from human workers
American Negro first group impacted by
automation
Technology and the African-
American Experience
Mechanical cotton picker and other
machines replaced black plantation workers
5 million blacks migrated north to escape
poverty
They had no capital to weather the
technological storm sweeping over them
Forced eviction and migration unleashed
social and political forces
Caught Between Technologies
Blacks found unskilled jobs in the north
Automation replaced unskilled jobs
Numerical control technology accelerated
displacement
Businesses flee to suburbs; central cities
become increasingly black
Urban renaissance increased employment
gap between blacks and whited
Automation and the Making of
the Urban Underclass
Automation and relocation of
manufacturing jobs split blacks into groups
underclass (largest group)
professionals
Unemployment lead to crime
Losses in black employment since they
were concentrated in most expendable jobs
Automation and the Urban
Underclass
Blacks no longer needed in economic
system
Vented frustrations by rioting
Today, millions of blacks are permanently
trapped in the underclass
Value of their labor rendered useless by
automated technologies displacing them
The Great Automation Debate
Academicians warned of dangers of
automation in the future
Predicted revolution would leave millions
jobless
LBJ created Commission on Automation,
Technology, and Economic progress

The Government Steers a Middle
Course
The Commission steered course between
two opposing views
revolution needed quick government action
Displacement normal & absorbed by economy
The Commission argued technology
eliminates jobs, not work
In the end, concluded displacement is
necessary and temporary phenomenon
Labors Capitulation
Debate on automation fizzed in the 60s
(due to organized labor)
Union leaders spoke out against new
technological forces
Labor movement pushed for retraining
High-skilled jobs created by technology
overrated
Technological forces proves too powerful
Labors Capitulation
Technological unemployment affecting
every sector of the economy
Americas underclass likely to become
more white and suburban
Millions lose jobs to technology, and global
purchasing power plummets
Business restructuring to facilitate new tech.
World economy laying organizational
groundwork for workerless future
Post-Fordism
New technologies cut costs and improved
market share, profits and efficiency
ROI averaged up to 68%
Computers contributed to downsizing
Outmoded organizations were inadequate to
deal with abilities of computer technology


Old-Fashioned Management
Modern management formed in 1850s
To facilitate technology, businesses adopted
more complex managerial schemes
Modern businesses have pyramid structure
Americans challenged by Japaneses
organization arrangement equipped for tech.

The Switch to Lean Production
Mass-production became worlds standard
Japanese used with lean production
Lean production combined new
management techniques with technology to
increase output with less resources & labor
Combines advantages of craft and mass
production, while cutting costs and and
giving consumers variety

The Switch to Lean Production
Keeps less inventory and results in fewer
defects
Replaces traditional management with with
multiskilled teams working together
Everyone affected participates in
development under concurrent engineering
Kaizen encourages continual change and
improvement
The Switch to Lean Production
Workers given control over production
process
Creates greater efficiencies by
encouraging development of workers
Pushes decision-making authority as down
as possible
Places priority on JIT production
The Switch to Lean Production
JIT based on controlling quality and crisis
management
Toyota built a car quicker, in less space,
with fewer defects, & 1/2 the labor than GM
Emphasizes process, not structure and
function, making Japanese firms suited to
take advantage of information technologies
Re-engineering the Workplace
Lean production changing every industry
Eliminating unskilled, semiskilled, and
middle management positions
Could result in 20% unemployment rate
Information tools ensure JIT inventories to
meet customer needs
Compresses time and reduces labor costs
Re-engineering the Workplace
Unemployment rising and purchasing
power dropping
Near-workerless world approaching
May approach before society has time to
prepare for its implications and impact
No More Farmers
Technology transformed America to an
urban, industrial nation within 100 years
Less than 2.7% of workforce in farming
Mechanization and new plant-breeding
techniques went hand-in-hand
Greater productivity meant fewer farm
workers and farms were necessary to
produce increased output
No More Farmers
Mechanical, biological, and chemical
revolutions unemployed millions of farmers
At the same time, productivity is increasing
Higher yields and greater output have
terrible consequences for family farms
Caused 9 million persons living in poverty
in depressed rural areas
Soil and Software
Less farms due to agricultural software and
farm robotics
Robots may replace manual tasks on land
Robots used for livestock management
Sensors will be implanted on animals to
monitor external environment conditions
Fully automated factory farm less than
twenty years awat
Molecular Farming
Machines replacing human labor in all areas
Gene splicing allows scientists to organize
life as a manufactured process
Biologists see reduced need for labor to
manufacture, transport, and apply chemicals
Increased productivity of dairy cows
threatens livelihood of dairy farmers
Pharmaceutical companies hope to increase
productivity & profits and reduce workforce
The End of Outdoor Agriculture
Manipulation of molecules in the lab likely
to replace traditional agriculture
Chemical companies investing heavily in
indoor tissue-culture production
Lab-produced vanilla eliminates the bean,
plant, cultivation, harvest, and farmer
Lab production of thaumatin will reduce
worldwide sugar market
The End of Outdoor Agriculture
Tissue culture next stage of a process that
continues to reduce market share of farming
Genetic-engineering companies hoped to
eliminate the farmer altogether
Goal to convert food production into wholly
industrial process bypassing farming
Indoor tissue-culture food production will
eliminate millions of jobs
The End of Outdoor Agriculture
Tissue-culture substitution causes collapse
of national economies, unemployment, and
default on international loans
Breakthroughs promise high productivity
and reductions in labor
Manufacturing and service sectors cant
absorb displaced farm workers
Hanging Up the Blue Collar
Continuous-process technologies in 1880s
introduces new approach to manufacturing
Automatic machinery produced goods with
little or no human input
Today, information & communication
technologies facilitate more sophisticated
continuous-process manufacturing
Automating the Automobile
Restructuring resulting in layoffs of blue-
collar workers on the assembly line
Automakers seek innovations to increase
production and reduce labor
View labor-displacing technology as best
bet to cut costs and improve profit
Robots approach human capabilities while
avoiding problems of human agents
Computing Steel
Same changes in organization and
production taking place in steel industry
High-tech mills transform steelmaking to
highly automated continuous operation
Automated facilities reduce production time
to 1 hour and reduce its workforce
Mini-mills reduce employment
Steel automation leave blue collar workers
jobless
Computing Steel
New manufacturing methods combined
with restructuring management hierarchy
turn steelmaking into era of lean production
Self-managing work teams reduce managers
Industries using steel emphasizing lean
production
Automated processes will have
psychological and economic impact on
national economies
The Silicon-Collar Workforce
Rubber industry affected by re-engineering
Extractive industries affected by automation
Automation of mining industry left
joblessness
Chemical refining industry substituting
machines for human labor
Strides in re-engineering and automation
occurring in electronics industry

The Silicon-Collar Workforce
High-tech equipment increase productivity
& eliminate jobs in appliance industry
Textiles industry most affected by Industrial
Revolution
Textiles have lagged behind due to labor-
intensiveness of sewing process
Today, industry catching up through lean-
production practices and automated systems
The Silicon-Collar Workforce
Technology makes garment manufacturing
in industrial nations cost-competitive
Automation of high end manufacturing
resulting in record loss of jobs
By next century, blue collar worker will be
a casualty of Third Industrial Revolution as
we march towards greater technological
efficiency
The Last Service Worker
Service sector is raising productivity and
displacing labor across entire expanse
The Wall Street Journal warned of service
workers displaced by information tech.
Innovations making phone industry a key
pace-setter in todays high-tech economy
Workers employed in office repair declining
USPS making dramatic developments
At Your Service
Service industries coming under domain of
automation
Global service centers first first to feel
economic aftershocks
Employers learning to produce more with
fewer workers
Banking and insurance industries beginning
to make transition to Third Industrial
Revolution
At Your Service
Imaging technology, expert systems, and
mobile computing key in re-engineering
Paperless electronic office goal of business
Electronic office will eliminate millions of
clerical workers
Paperless office compared to cashless
society
High-tech office equipment bringing fully
automated office closer to reality
The Virtual Office
Intelligent machines replacing clerical and
management work
New technology making offices less
relevant as centers of operations
Telecommuting increases productivity and
reduces space necessary to conduct business
Firms trying to recapture the flexibility and
human warmth electronic communications
has lacked
Downsizing the Wholesale and
Retail Sectors
Wholesale and retail sectors being
revolutionized by intelligent machines
Automated warehousing reduces labor
requirements
Technologies allow continuous-flow
process, lessening need for wholesalers
Computerized systems and automated
processes reduce retail workers
Downsizing the Wholesale and
Retail Sectors
Where displaced retail workers will go is
questionable
Creation of jobs in food industry is over
Information highway lessening need for
entire categories of retail workers
Electronic transmission of goods
eliminating jobs in warehousing and
transportation industries
Downsizing the Wholesale and
Retail Sectors
Electronic home shopping taking over retail
market
On-line computer services drawing
businesses away from traditional retail
markets
Steady decline of shopping centers mean
drop in employment in retail sector
Digitizing the Professions,
Education, and Art
Information technologies will integrate
mental and physical activities
Intelligent machines invading professional
discipline and encroaching education & arts
surgery, book writing, music, & digitized image


Digitizing the Professions,
Education, and Art
Third Industrial Revolution lead to
unemployment of agricultural,
manufacturing, and service sectors
Technology revamped global economic
system
New wave accelerating productivity and
making workers redundant and irrelevant
Digitizing the Professions,
Education, and Art
Todays technologies are primitive
compared to what will be
Parallel computing machines, robots, and
integrated electronic networks subsume
economic process
This leaves less room for human
participation in making, moving, selling,
and servicing
High-Tech Winners and Losers
Concept of trickle-down technology not
comforting to unemployed
Employees feeling frustrated over industries
that abandoned them
Alcoholism, drug abuse, and crime on the
rise
Re-engineering revolution paying off--in
1980, US firms posted 92% profit increase
Squeezing the Little Guy
Benefits of new technologies havent
trickled down to the average worker
By end of 80s, 10% of US workforce
unemployed or underemployed
Only 1/3 of displaced manufacturing
workers able to find jobs in service sector,
then at a 20% pay drop
Government figures masking true
dimensions of the unfolding job crisis
Squeezing the Little Guy
US workers forced to settle for dead-end
jobs just to survive
New part-time jobs found in pink-collar
ghetto, but likely to vanish
Decline in wages attributable to waning
influence of unions
Downsizing causing hourly wages to fall
Lean production meant a fall into near-
abject circumstances for many

Squeezing the Little Guy
Decline of workforce blamed on loss of
manufacturing jobs and globalization
US corporations drove to weaken organized
labors influence to reduce cost of labor
Worker benefits declined
Health-care coverage weakened
Paid days off have declined


The Declining Middle
Re-engineering affecting corporate
community, threatening middle-class
Some unemployed give up altogether
Those finding work accept reduced pay and
job assignments
Middle-income jobs disappearing
Declining fortunes of US middle class show
up mainly among college educated

The New Cosmopolitans
Small number of top executives reap
benefits of technology revolution
Growing wage gap creating US polarization
Fading middle class threatening political
stability of the US
Concerns of conflicts between knowledge
and service workers more pronounced

The New Cosmopolitans
New elite have no attachment to place
Have more in common with each other than
country they do business in
High-tech international workers likely to
retreat from future civic responsibilities
Will account for over 60% of income
earned in US by 2020
The Other America
High-tech revolution exacerbate tensions
between rich and poor
Nations poor cant make ends meet with
low-paying employment, needing
government-assisted relief efforts
Chronic hunger contributing factor to
escalating health-care costs
Unemployed vulnerable to illness & disease
The Other America
Employers finding ways to cut health-care
costs
With costs of homes rising and wages
falling, many cant purchase own homes
Many live in deficient structures or are
homeless
Nations poor in rural and inner-cities, the
two regions hardest hit by technology
displacement
The Other America
Escalating poverty blamed on intense global
competition and technology changes
Urban, rural, and middle class feeling bite
of re-engineering
Small elite enjoy benefits of high-tech
global economy, enjoying lifestyles
removed from social turmoil
High-Tech Stress
New technology removes need for control
workers
Many workers unable to participate in
production process
Numerical control gives greater control over
decision making and higher profits
Re-engineering plans increase
managements ultimate control over
production
High-Tech Stress
Merits of new management techniques
being introduced are questionable
Japanese lean -production practices
described as management by stress
Continually speed up and stress the system
to find weaknesses so new designs can be
implemented to increase performance
High-Tech Stress
Lean-production sophisticated exploitation
of workers
When whole system stressed, it is harder to
keep up
Any glitch is the workers fault
High pace of production increases injury
In Japan, worker stress under lean-
production reaching near-epidemic
proportions--called karoshi
Biorhythms and Burnout
Until modern industrial era, bodily and
economic rhythms largely compatible
Computer culture operates in nanoseconds
Workers describe fatigue in machine terms
Increased pace results in unprecedented
stress levels
Computers monitoring performance causing
high stress levels
Biorhythms and Burnout
Methods being tested to optimize interface
between employees and their computers
Workers experiencing mental burnout over
quickened pace of technology
High-tech economy harming mental and
physical well-being of millions of workers
Increased stress results in drug and alcohol
abuse
Biorhythms and Burnout
Stress triggers deadly and disabling on the
job accidents
Increased stress from high-tech work
environments showing up in workers
compensation claims
The New Reserve Army
Re-engineering contributing to workers
economic insecurity
US corporations creating new two-tier
employment system
Contingent work may diminish employee
loyalty, at risk to the business community
Companies hiring temps to add and delete
workers quickly in response to market
The New Reserve Army
Part-time workers earn 40% less than full-
time doing comparable work
Costs being cut by contracting with outside
suppliers; traditionally it was in-house work
Temps substituting permanent workers in
every sector
Professionals fastest growing group of
temporary workers


The New Reserve Army
Federal government replacing full-time
workers with temps
Temps and outsourcing make up bulk of
todays workforce
Drives wages down for full-time workers
Most Americans feel trapped by lean-
production processes and new automation
technologies
A Slow Death
Americans define themselves in relationship
to their work
Correlation found between technological
unemployment and depression
Hard-core unemployed experience
symptoms of pathology like dying
Common progression of symptoms in the
hard-core unemployed
A Slow Death
Violence against employers triggered by
downsizing and layoffs
After a year of unemployment, most turn
their rage inward
Psychological death followed by actual
death--some choose suicide to escape
Death of global workforce internalized by
workers experiencing own individual deaths

The Fate of Nations
Destabilizing effects of Third Industrial
Revolution being felt world wide
Fierce global competition throwing
Japanese workers into unemployment lines
One in nine Western European workers
without a job
Pressures of global competition and new
technology hitting hard in Europe
High-Tech Politics in Europe
Loss of manufacturing jobs due to
laborsaving technologies and restructuring
European manufacturing industries moving
towards era of workerless factory
Service sector no longer providing jobs
Unemployment exacerbated by drop in
public employment
Employment opportunities limited to part-
time

High-Tech Politics in Europe
JIT employment results in increased
productivity and decreased gob security
Social net of EC countries making
companies less competitive in global arena
European labor 50% more expensive than
US or Japanese labor
Public spending in Europe than any other
industrialized region of the world
High-Tech Politics in Europe
Corporate leaders introduced Euro-
sclerosis to describe unnecessary social aid
Lowering of social net and more displaced
workers increasing European tensions
More displaced workers living in poverty
with less public aid available
Automating the Third World
Industrial Revolution quickly spreading to
third world
Global companies building high-tech
facilities throughout southern hemisphere
Cheap-third world labor less important in
overall production mix
Investment in automated technologies to
ensure quick delivery and quality control
Automating the Third World
Machines replacing workers in every
developing country, creating increased labor
unrest
China restructuring factories to give it
competitive advantage in world markets
High-tech enclaves raising troubling
questions about high-tech future


Automating the Third World
Over 1 billion jobs needed to provide
income for all new job entrants worldwide
Likelihood of fining enough slim
Clash between rising population and falling
job opportunities will shape geopolitics of
emerging high-tech global economy
A More Dangerous World
Technology displacement leading to rise in
crime, indicative of troubled times ahead
Correlation between increase in
unemployment and rise in violent crimes
Correlation between growing wage
inequality and increased criminal activity
Technology displacement mostly affecting
youths, spawning new violent subculture
A More Dangerous World
Loss of hope for better future reason teens
turn to violence and crime
Youngsters planning own funerals
Teen criminal activity escalates to rioting
Illiterate, unemployed gang members
powerful social force
Teen gangs proliferating in suburbs, as well
as incidences of violent crimes
A More Dangerous World
Suburban homeowners respond to crime by
stepping up security measures
Reduced wages, unemployment, and
polarization turning US into outlaw culture
Few Americans acknowledge relationship
between unemployment and crime
Unemployed steal back what marketplace
denies them
A Global Problem
Increased violence worldwide problem
Caused by workers left behind in transition
to information-based society
Downsizing has most effect on eliminating
jobs in working class community
Technological displacement & population
pressure lead to acts of random violence
Entering into dangerous period of low-
intensity conflict
A Global Problem
Distinction between war and crime will blur
Armies and police will not be effective and
give way to private security forces
Third Industrial Revolution throws into
question meaning of progress
Concept of work at issue
Value of labor becoming increasingly
unimportant

A Global Problem
New approaches to providing income and
purchasing power needed
Productivity gains from new technology
need to be shared with working people
Grater focus needed on third sector (non-
market economy)
Social economy will address personal needs
and fill the void left by the marketplace and
legislative decrees
Re-engineering the Work Week
Computer revolution opens door to personal
freedom for first time in history
Information revolution gives humans
freedom to decide voluntarily own futures
Transition to time values turning point
More free time inevitable consequence of
corporate re-engineering
Work week may reduce to 20 hours to line
labor with new productive capacity
Re-engineering the work Week
With longer working hours, leisure time has
declined by 1/3
Technology created unemployed workers
with idle, rather than leisure, time
Companies prefer to employ smaller
workforce with longer hours
Cut work hours to accommodate dramatic
rise in productivity

Toward a High-Tech Work Week
Shorter workweek only viable solution to
technological displacement
Shorter workweeks mean more employment
Shorter workweek increases efficiency and
productivity by optimizing use of capital
Reduce working time to achieve greater
social equity
More leisure time necessary to stimulate
service economy
Toward a High-Tech Work Week
Work and leisure issue quality-of-life
concern
In Japan, shorter workweek answer to future
unemployment
Most American CEOs remain steadfastly
opposed to shorter workweek
Say longer workweek necessary to stay
competitive

Workers Claims on Productivity
Workers contribution to production viewed
as of lesser nature than capital providers
Benefits accrued to workers from gains in
productivity viewed as a gift
Most investors happen to be the workers
Pension funds largest pool of investment
capital in US economy
Workers have no say over how their
deferred savings are invested
Modest Proposals
Management aware gap needs filled
between greater productivity and falling
purchasing power
Greater pressure to shorten workweek as
equitable means of distributing work
Shorter workweek should be voluntary
Measures should be implemented to
discourage overtime, saveing taxpayers
money
Modest Proposals
Getting workweek back to 40 hours would
create 7 million more jobs
Long-term salvation of work lies in
reducing working hours
Politicians slow to grasp shorter workweek;
think technological displacement temporary
Bills introduced in Congress to mandate a
shorter workweek
Modest Proposals
Shorter workweek saves in unemployment
compensation and welfare payments
Business leaders fear shorter workweek
drives up their product price
Government could pay unemployment
comp. in return for shorter workweek
Companies could be extended tax credit for
shorter workweek and hiring more workers
Modest Proposals
Mandated profit-sharing allows workers to
directly participate in productivity gains
Tax deduction for employees working
shorter weeks ease burden on wage earners
Necessary multilateral agreements with
other nations ensures fair playing field
Tariff system promotes labor advancement
Downshifting workweek only choice to
accommodate productivity gains
Trading Work for Leisure
Americans would trade income for leisure
Balancing work and leisure serious
parenting issue
Stress of longer hours hard on women
Interested groups need to work together to
achieve shorter workweek
Reduced workweek likely to be used
worldwide by early 21 century
Trading Work For Leisure
Social ills will heighten in we cant find
work for the unemployed
Question of utilization of time looming over
political landscape
Transition to non-market based society
requires rethinking of current world view
Redefining role of individual in absence of
mass formal work seminal issue
A New Social Contract
Shift to machine labor leaves mass worker
without societal function
Geopolitical role of government lessening
New international trade agreements transfer
power to corporations, not government
Role of government as employer of last
resort lessening in importance
Public establishes communities as a buffer
to forces of market and weak central govt.

A New Social Contract
Shrinking role of market and public sectors
affect working people in two ways:
those working see shorter workweek and more
leisure
unemployed sink into permanent underclass
Opportunity exists to harness unused labor
toward constructive tasks outside private
and public sectors
Life Beyond the Marketplace
Third US sector will reshape social contract
in 21 century
Volunteer sector replaces market
relationships
Third sector vehicle for vibrant post-market
era
Third sector growing twice as fast as both
government and private sectors
Life Beyond the Marketplace
Third sector mediates between formal
economy and government
Community service revolutionary
alternative to traditional forms of labor
Community service a helping action and
entered into willingly
Social economy measured by the way its
outputs integrate social results with indirect
economic gains
Life Beyond the Marketplace
Third sector most socially responsible of the
three sectors
Third sector essential to the flourishing of
the democratic spirit
Played aggressive role in defining American
way of life
Voluntary organizations best developed in
the US
An Alternate Vision
Third sector unites diverse American into
cohesive social identity
Capacity to join together single defining
characteristic of Americans
Third sector incubator of new ideas and
forum to air social grievances
Help preserve traditions and open doors to
new experiences
An Alternate Vision
Third sector where we experience pleasure
of life and nature
Market vision glorifies efficiency standards
as chief means of advancing happiness
Materialist view led to rapacious
consumption of the earth
Third sector motivated by service and
security
An Alternate Vision
New vision based on transformation of
consciousness will take hold
Importance of formal work will diminish
Free time used to renew community bonds
and rejuvenate democratic legacy
New generation will transcend nationalism
New generation will act as common
members of the human race
Empowering the Third Sector
Market and public sectors relationship to
the masses will change in fundamental ways
Government faced with incarcerating more
criminals or finding work in the third sector
Community organizations act as primary
agents for social and political reform
Third-sector will take up more basic
services in wake of government cutbacks
Empowering the Third Sector
Globalization will force people to organize
into communities of self-interest
Self-sustaining local communities only
solution to technological displacement
Governments role aligned with interests of
social economy
Cooperative effort required to revitalize
social economy in every country
A New Role for Government
Downsizing of governments role in formal
economy will change nature of politics
Awareness of need to create relationships
between government and third sector
Returning government to the people became
convenient euphemism
Reagan people manipulated third-sector
images

The Third Sector and Partisan
Politics
Reagan made volunteerism key theme
Government took away many things once
considered ours to do voluntarily
Many saw Reagans message as call to
renew American spirit
Bush reminded country that volunteer sector
was spiritual backbone of American
democratic spirit
The Third Sector and Partisan
Politics
Bush introduced Points of Light Initiative
Americans charged volunteerism attempt to
abdicate government responsibilities
Many argued volunteer efforts fragmented
attempts to mount political movements
In the 80s, volunteerism reduced to
partisan cause
Unions feared volunteers would replace
paid work done by public employees
The Third Sector and Partisan
Politics
Liberals failure to accept volunteerism
explained by preference for professionals
Liberals associate third sector with a
patronizing form of elitism
Liberal criticisms of volunteerism failed to
reflect reality of volunteer efforts
Volunteer more effective in providing care
services than detached salaried professional
The Third Sector and Partisan
Politics
Volunteers support increased government
expenditures
Government needs to play supportive role
in transition to third sector society
Incentives should encourage those who
have a job in market sector
Need to provide unemployed meaningful
work in third sector
Shadow Wages for Voluntary
Work
Greater participation encouraged by
providing tax deduction per hour worked
Tax deductions encourage greater
participation
Shadow wages ease transition from formal
employment to community service
By prioritizing deductions, government
could play role in guiding social economy
A Social Wage for Community
Service
Social wage alternative to welfare; would
help communities in which labor put to use
Social income given to skilled workers no
longer needed in marketplace
Guaranteeing annual income turning point
in history of economic relationships
Friedman advocated negative income tax
LBJ established National Commission on
Guaranteed Incomes
A Social Wage for Community
Service
Western European nations have legislatured
minimum income schemes
VISTA, NHSC, ect. promote service and
support volunteer efforts worldwide
State and local governments introducing
programs to assist efforts in third sector
Economic returns exceed expenditures
Many looking to government to hire
unemployed
A Social Wage for Community
Service
Offer corporations tax credits for hiring
welfare recipients
Govt. focuses on financing public-works
projects and emphasizes third-sector society
Govt. should expand community-service
programs in impoverished communities
Nonprofit community addresses issues more
effectively than government
A Social Wage for Community
Service
Government moving toward guaranteeing
income and encouraging community service
Recipient unable to find job will perform
public-work assignments
More public jobs could be created by
reducing workweek to 30 hours
Does every member of society have a right
to benefit from productivity increases?
A Social Wage for Community
Service
Tying income to service would aid
transition to service-oriented culture
Defense cuts, elimination of some subsidies,
and paring down of welfare bureaucracy
raise government funds
Necessary to have new taxes
VAT on all nonessential goods & services
VAT encourages saving over spending

Financing the Transition
VAT places constraints on
overconsumption
VAT would have more positive impact on
economy
VAT could be placed on high-tech items
and entertainment and recreation industries
Enact VAT on advertising
Could increase tax-deductible corporate
contributions to third sector
Financing the Transition
Transnational companies should be
encouraged to contribute more
Shadow and social wages lay groundwork
for transition into social economy
Proposals promoting the social economy
likely to gain support
Alliance between government and third
sector will build sustainable communities
Globalizing the Social Economy
Independent sector playing more important
social role around the world
Interest in third-sector associations
paralleling worldwide spread of democracy
Civicus mission is to cultivate
volunteerism and community service
Growing influence of third sector most
noticeable in former nations of Soviet bloc
A New Voice for Democracy
Democratic groups more effective than
resistance groups in toppling the regime
Third sector becoming wellspring for new
ideas, reforms, and political leadership
Technological displacement becoming
central to Eastern Europes political debate
If third sector not successful, these countries
may succumb to facism
A New Voice for Democracy
Third sector emerging in Asia and the
Southern Hemisphere
Third sector more effective than public or
private sectors in developing nations
Third sector growing fastest in Asia
Latin Americans increasing volunteerism
Africa experiencing rapid growth in third-
sector activity
A New Voice for Democracy
In the third world, NGOs getting into the
areas the market provides for
Formal economy irrelevant to most in the
world because theyre so poor
In third world, third sector sector promotes
private sector on a massive scale
Gains from market used to finance
expansion of third-sector activity

A New Voice for Democracy
Third sector emerging to fill gap left by
retreat of private and public sectors
Governments losing hold over local
populations
Most money for third-sector initiatives in
developing nations comes from NGOs
Social economy going to play important
role in labor market in developing countries
A New Voice for Democracy
Growth in third-sector activity fostering
new international networks
NGOs faced with many challenges
rising unemployment
possible elimination of outdoor farming
NGOs banning together to fight agricultural
biotechnology

The Last, Best Hope
Third-sector service answer to rechanneling
growing frustration
Social economy last best hope for re-
establishing alternative framework
Unlikely that many will be retained for
scarce high-tech jobs in knowledge sector
Any new products lines probably require far
fewer workers
The Last, Best Hope
Soaring productivity will face weak demand
as more workers lose purchasing power
Rising technological unemployment and
declining purchasing power will continue to
plague global economy
Central governments straining under weight
of technological revolution
Middle class buffeted by technological
change
The Last, Best Hope
Rising polarization create conditions for
grand scale social upheaval
Concern over the jobs issue has led to
growing ideological battle
Conservatives argue for laissez-faire
Unused human labor central reality of
coming era
Civilization will be destitute if peoples
talents arent used constructively
The Last, Best Hope
Finding alternative to work critical task
ahead for every nation
Social economy one realm machines cant
subsume, so its where displaced workers
will find refuge
Must transfs where displaced workers will
find refuge
Must transfer productivity gains to third
sector
The Last, Best Hope
Third sector needs volunteers and operating
funds
Shadow wages, VAT, and increasing tax
deductions can increase third sector
effectiveness
Transformed third sector offers only means
for channeling surplus labor cast off by
global market
The Last, Best Hope
The end of work could spell death sentence
for civilization
Could also signal beginning of great social
transformation & rebirth of human spirit
Future is up to us