Matrix of Labour - Preview

20 October 2022, House of Labour
Event organised by the IGZA in cooperation with
with the House of Labour and J.H.W Dietz-Verlag

Labour is an essential dimension of human history. It is closely interwoven with technology, science, communication, domination and everyday life. A basic understanding of the temporal structure of human history and the most important dimensions to which human labour is linked is necessary in order to categorise the challenges of the socio-ecological transformation of our working environments. In the five-year interdisciplinary research project „Matrix of Labour“, the Institute for the History and Future of Work (IGZA) developed a „big picture“ of this link. It provides surprising insights from the beginning with the savage labourers through the two major productive milestones to the opportunities for transforming our finance-capitalist investor economy into a sustainable, solidarity-based market economy with freedom and prosperity for all.

Horst Neumann, Cornelius Markert and Marc Amlinger from IGZA presented the project and central theses of the book „Matrix der Arbeit - Materialien zur Geschichte und Zukunft der Arbeit“, which will be published by J.H.W. Dietz-Verlag in August 2023.

Afterwards, in a discussion moderated by Tanja Jacquemin from the Academy of Labour, the team of authors answered the many questions of the guests present, some of whom had come from the book fair, were from the current year of the EAdA or came from academia, trade unions, politics and the press. The discussions between those present, the IGZA, the House of Labour and the J.H.W. Dietz publishing house continued after the discussion in the plenary session over a shared buffet and intensive discussions on the time charts on display.