Paret, Marcel. 2018. “Citizenship and Work in
Global Capitalism: From Domination to Aspiration.” Sociology
Compass 12(8): 1-13.
The
sociology of citizenship emerged during an exceptional period in which workers
benefitted from economic growth and gains in productivity. Yet the field grew
against the backdrop of a market‐oriented
global capitalism defined by high levels of precarious work, surplus labor, and
economic insecurity. Tracing the evolution of global capitalism in the wake of
World War II, and across the unequal regions of the world, I outline three
different perspectives on the relationship between capitalism and work. These
include an outdated and untenable perspective of citizenship as
workplace product, a critical perspective of citizenship as worker
domination, and an optimistic perspective of citizenship as aspiration
and agency. The analysis suggests that citizenship represents an important
terrain of struggle within global capitalism, simultaneously enabling patterns
of domination and inspiring movements for liberation.
