Each Saturday, Economic Alternatives selects four books for you that are worth reading. This week, we recommend: Poor work. The choice of the elitesby François Ruffin; Without transition. A new history of energyby Jean-Baptiste Fressoz; The obligatory revolution. Succeed in ecological transformation without depending on China and the United Statesby David Djaïz and Xavier Desjardins; Digital Atlasby Dominique Cardon, Sylvain Parasie and Donato Ricci (dir.).
1/ “Bad work. The choice of the elites”, by François Ruffin
Work specialists have been warning us for a while about this subject which came to the forefront during the battle against pension reform: in France, work hurts, literally, physically and psychologically. More than in other European countries.
This poor quality of work is completely out of step with our level of wealth, our social protection and our industrial weakness. How is this situation explained?
A collective choice
According to LFI deputy François Ruffin, this is the result of a choice for an economy low cost : companies for which work is only a cost, public policies going in the same direction (reduction of contributions, flexibility, etc.) and unions which have, until recently, sought more to financially compensate for the problems at work only to call them into question.
Result, cheap work maintained by blackmail into relocations (“If you’re not happy, we’ll go elsewhere”), subcontracting (more accident-prone), the eviction of older employees (too expensive) and the intensification for others by hunting for downtime (thus wearing out the worker “accelerated”).
The results offered by the book are overwhelming. There are at least 650 deaths at work each year, it is impossible to fall below this threshold. Occupational medicine must observe more and more unfitness for work. How much ? We don’t know, there is no official measurement! However, France Travail statistics announce 100,000 dismissals for incapacity in 2022, “the most gigantic of social plans, an invisible, silent, mute social plan”.
Work accidents are under-reported (good news, things are improving in construction, bad news, it’s terrible in medico-social sectors), as are occupational illnesses. We are witnessing an explosion of psychological disorders, now the leading cause of long work stoppages.
The cost of all this is human (with lives made difficult for French people who show a great attachment to work), political (with disillusioned voters), economic (with Social Security expenses and losses in productivity). Former Minister of Labor Xavier Bertrand estimated the total cost at 3-4 points of GDP lost each year.
Remobilization
What to do ? The MP asks to reintroduce the arduousness criteria removed by Emmanuel Macron (heavy loads, dangerous postures, chemicals, vibrations). He wants more occupational inspectors and doctors, health and safety committees and working conditions.
From above, he wants more room for employees on boards of directors and, from below, more voice given to those who work to express themselves on the organization of their work.
So that they can gain autonomy instead of having to submit to the injunctions of “planners”, these time masters paid to chase down dead time based on major organizational principles, without knowing the realities on the ground.
François Ruffin’s fight is social, economic, but also political. “On work, bad work, the National Rally is ignorant, incompetent. » But the left has not done better. This book is intended to be a first step towards its remobilization.
Christian Chavagneux
Poor work. The choice of the elites, by François Ruffin, The links that liberate, 2024, 222 p., €15.
2/ “Without transition. A new history of energy”, by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
The notion of energy transition was coined in 1967 by a… pro-nuclear activist, Harrison Brown. Since then, the notion has been brought up to date. For the better: the promotion of renewable energies. And the least good: it accredited the idea according to which the history of energy would be that of a succession of dominant energies which would have supplanted the previous ones (first the physical force of men and animals, and the wood, then coal followed by oil and electricity, then, today, renewables).
A vision in the form of the most reductive “phases” or “ages”, tells us the author, a recognized historian of science, technology and the environment. Not only do the energies add to each other, but they maintain a symbiotic relationship which has the effect of relaunching the consumption of those supposed to decline.
In fact, we will never have consumed as much wood energy (logs and pucks) and coal as in the era of the so-called reign of oil, including in old industrialized countries. What the author demonstrates with strong figures and concrete illustrations. In short, a real obstacle in the pond.
Sylvain Allemand
Without transition. A new history of energy, by Jean-Baptiste FressozSeuil, 2024, 416 p., €24.
3/ “The obligatory revolution. Succeed in ecological transformation without depending on China and the United States”, by David Djaïz and Xavier Desjardins
Another book on the energy transition? Yes, again, but with an educational text and structured argumentation. The authors begin by reminding us that the transition is difficult, conflicting and that it has not really started. The following shows how, in different registers, China and the United States are moving forward quickly.
Europe? It is rich in great ambitions, on paper, but poor in funding. What’s more, a kind of fossil populism seems to be gaining ground.
How to get out of it? As after the Second World War, we can buy ecological equipment from the Americans. But it would be better to produce them ourselves. Which requires an industrial policy: innovation, subsidies and a climate pass to help the poorest, financed by taxation of high wealth (but this will be insufficient as a resource).
Victims of a dated image of the Plan, the authors complicate their lives while their desire for public-private-national-territorial coordination was found in the Plan commissions of the 1970s and 1980s. An interesting book that helps you think.
Ch. Ch.
The obligatory revolution. Succeed in ecological transformation without depending on China and the United States, by David Djaïz and Xavier DesjardinsAllary Editions, 2024, 297 p., 21,90 €.
4/ “Digital Atlas”, by Dominique Cardon, Sylvain Parasie and Donato Ricci (dir.)
Less than thirty years after the widespread use of the Internet, digital technology has truly invaded our lives. But while we think we know it like the back of our hand – that is true – many of its aspects remain in the shadows, maintaining a certain number of tenacious myths. Among these is that of an emancipation of space and matter which this atlas largely undermines.
Its multiple maps, graphics and accompanying texts cover numerous issues surrounding digital technology, from its development to the strong inequalities that underlie it, including socio-economic transformations, ecological damage and burning questions of governance. who accompany him.
Whether you are addicted to the Web or more techno-critical, this book will provide you with something to nourish and confront your ideas, including on the most hackneyed themes, such as the functioning of social networks, Gafam, artificial intelligence or fake news.
Igor Martinache
Digital Atlas, Dominique Cardon, Sylvain Parasie and Donato Ricci (dir.)Presses de Sciences Po, 2023, 127 p., 25 €.
2024-03-09 03:21:21
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