Die subjektive Modernisierung fortgeschrittener Arbeitsgesellschaften

Tendencies to individualism, subjectivism and pluralism are not merely family or off-time matters ; in the world of work, too, new forms of labour develop, increasingly basing on the employees' commitment, and their ability of selfregulation. This subjectivity of labour implies the reduction of traditional bonds and natural agreements, an increasing individualization of burdens, possibilities for decision and design, and post-conventional attitudes towards labour, damanding more flexibility, emotion regulation, and ability of discourse. As a complementary to the erosion of previous regulation structures, new post-traditional forms of social integration are coming up as demonstrated by the example of the solidarity of employers and employees. On the basis of the German « ALLBUS » survey it can be demonstrated that the subjectivity of labour mostly results from the expansion of higher qualified service tasks. The subjectivity in industrial labour, however, slows down because of the extraordinary inertia of organizational structures and power relations