Work in a Modern Society

Jürgen Kocka taught Social History at the University of Bielefeld for many years, after which he was appointed Professor of History of the Industrial World at the Free University of Berlin and Research Professor at Berlin Social Science Research Centre (WZB). He has published widely in the field of Modern History, particularly Social and Economic History of Europe, 18th-20th centuries. His publications in the English language include Facing Total War. German Society 1914-1918 (Berg, 1984), Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society. Business, Labor, and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany (Berghahn, 1999), Civil Society and Dictatorship in Modern German History  (University Press of  New England, 2010) and Comparative and Transnational History. Central European Approaches and New Perspectives (Berghahn 2009, edited together with Heinz-Gerhard Haupt).

“The volume offers a successful overview of the current German research on the history of work, its directions and problem, but also its potential for further fruitful exploration. It becomes clear that historians interested in the historical dimension of work will have plenty to do still.”  ·  H-Soz-u-Kult“[The essays] confirm how conceptually rich the intersection of ‘culture’ and ‘work’ can be and, as such, are essential for further study and research on these important subjects.”  ·  German Studies Review“This insightful book should reach an interdisciplinary audience of scholars, students, and laypersons. Its theses compellingly argue against theoretical demarcations and for more boundary crossings among disciplines and definitions.”  ·  German Quarterly“…an interesting and informative collection that brings together original contributions from some leading European scholars whose work may not be familiar to a British and American audience. As such it is a valuable addition to the literature in English on labour history and likely to provide a jumping off point for those seeking to expand their knowledge of this area.”  ·  European Review of History—Revue européenne d’histoire"Kocka, arguably the doyen of social history in Germany, introduces this volume with a succinct overview of the changing meanings of work from European antiquity to the present… For some decades labour studies were dominated by social histories that replaced the earlier histories of workers’ parties and unions. In Germany, Kocka was one of the key figures who tried to make actual working lives visible behind labour leaders’ speeches, rivalries, and organizational structures"  ·  Labour/Le Travail

• Chapter 1. Work as a Problem in European HistoryJürgen KockaChapter 2. Discourses on Work and Labour in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century GermanyJosef EhmerChapter 3. Beginnings of the Anthropology of Work: Nineteenth-century Social Scientists and Their Influence on EthnographyGerd SpittlerChapter 4. The Vision(s) of Work in the Nineteenth-century German Labour MovementThomas WelskoppChapter 5. Work in Gender, Gender in Work: the German Case in a Comparative PerspectiveKarin HausenChapter 6. Trust as WorkUte FrevertChapter 7. Soldiering and Working: Almost the Same? Reviewing People’s Practices in Industry and Military in Twentieth-century ContextsAlf LüdtkeChapter 8. Forced Labour in the Second World War: the German Case and ResponsibilityKlaus TenfeldeChapter 9. Work, Max Weber, Confucianism: the Confucian Ethic and the Spirit of Japanese CapitalismSebastian ConradChapter 10. What is Global Labour History Good For?Andreas EckertNotes on ContributorsBibliographyIndex