Work in Contemporary Society

This3,000-word assignmentis in two parts and is modelled on the format of Work Employment&Society"On the Front Line" pieces read on the Unit. Informed by the creativeandjournalistic approaches to work and employment featured in the Unit, the aim isto createa(semi-)fictional worker testimony and connect the experiences ofan individual worker with the wider context of work and employment in contemporary society.
InPart1(1,000words)youshould give a first-person (i.e. 'I did, I felt, I went') account ofadayinthelifeorcareer narrative of a fictional or semi-fictional worker - so could includeforinstancework and home life, feelings and expectations around work periodsofunemploymentunpaid domestic or reproductive work and other aspects of theeveryday working life ofthe persona writing the testimony. You can use your own or another person's experience or your own imagination to inform the portrayal of the everyday working life of the worker, but you may also wish to draw upon a persona on characterencounteredin either James Bloodworth's Hired or one of the films featured in the unit (Made in Dagenham, Ghosts, 1 Daniel Blake, Pride).
The testimony could be based in the past, present or the future, and, although manv of the examples covered in the unit concern the UK, can take place in any national context (orbetween national context if the testimony is that of, say, a migrant worker) Thetestimonyalso does not have to be confined to work in the kinds of sectors studied intheunit-itcouldbea sectoryou are interested in for your own personal, family or professional reasons. This will require creativity and some independent research to crafta(semi-)fictional but realistic portrayal of how a given character or individual experiencesworkinglife-and can be written in a colloquial or expressive fashion as if the person themselves is speaking.
In Part2(2,000 words) you should relate the worker experience captured in Part 1 to widerissues and debates covered in the lectures, aswell as (optional) the "TED talks and podcasts featured inthe Unit(e.g. change and continuity at work, class, social reproduction，migration,state policy, unemployment/underemployment, welfare alternatives and futures ofwork), connecting the everyday working life of the individual to broader phenomena and transformations in work and employment. You may wish to drawupon and citeideas and arguments from the other readings set on the unit here(e.g.theCruddas book Dignity of Labour or the Futures of Work articles).
In Part2,theanalysis could either take a 'depth’ approach, going into detail on one specific aspect ofthe workers experience sourced from one week or part of the unit socialreproductionfor instance- or could take a 'breadth’approach, relating the testimonytonumerousthemes from across the unit. Both roads are acceptable. You might also wishto relate the testimony experience to the policy context and suggest ways in which the work could be better managed, organised or regulated - as one finds in the'On the Front Line' pieces the assignment is modelled on.
Asthisisanunusual and creative assignment, an example essay - written last year bythe UnitDirector-is available on Blackboard to give you some idea of what is expected.You can give your feedback on it in the final week of the unit!