Matrix of work

- Project 1 -

Labour is an essential dimension of human history. It is closely interwoven with technology, science, communication, power and everyday life. The IGZA's work is therefore based on a basic understanding of the temporal structure of human history and the most important dimensions to which human labour is linked.

Following the strongly developing global historical narrative, we divide the history of labour into four sections:

Poaching,
Agricultural societies,
Capitalist market economy and
The future of work.

The prehistory of labour (hunting, gathering and processing) can be divided into the development of hominids (3 million years to 300,000 B.P.) and the early phase of Homo sapiens (300,000 to approx. 10,000 B.P.). Agricultural societies can be divided into early and hierarchical societies with the transition to hierarchy from 5,000 B.P. onwards.

The capitalist era is prepared by the development of its various constitutive elements - such as the market and monetary economy, commercial and financial capital, manufacturing and wage labour, technology and science as well as legal institutions to protect private property - until around 1770, initially largely in parallel in Europe and China, and accelerating in Western Europe from 1600. From 1770 onwards, the era of the capitalist market economy and mode of production began, starting in England.

This results in four time windows, each with two subsections; the overlapping time periods show the transition periods of the epochs:

Poaching: 3 million - 300 000 - 10 000 vh
Early and hierarchical agricultural societies: 10 000 vh - 5 000 vh - 1900 ce
Labour under capitalism: 1000 - 1800 - 2100 ce
Present and future of labour: 2000 - 2100 ce

The dimensions with which human labour interacts are technology, science, governance, communication, everyday culture, economy, energy, population and climate.

In combination with the eight time periods, these topics form a matrix of human labour from prehistory and early history through the present to the future.

The 7-volume book „Matrix der Arbeit - Materialien zur Geschichte und Zukunft der Arbeit“ (2023) contains analyses, theses, tables and over 1000 graphics to accompany the time tables.

As users, scientists as well as a generally interested public are in view - individually, in workshops, in exhibitions or schools.

Contact person

Interested researchers from the fields of economics, history, social sciences and anthropology who would like to contribute to the expansion of the chronological tables are invited to participate.

The content of the project is supervised by the Cornelius Markert, Horst Neumann and Marc Amlinger.