Chapter Tra la routine dell’automa e l’innovazione del genio: l’idea di lavoro nella psicologia economica di Gabriel Tarde

Abstract

The purpose of the chapter is to offer a quick manor on how Tarde in his monumental Psychologie economique, treats the theme of work. At the heart of his definition of the value of work is no longer time or physical effort but rather the amount of boredom or, conversely, creative invention and social consideration. In that sense Tarde's reflection offers interesting ideas for expanding the tools (and perspectives) for studying the transformations affecting work and contributes to building a critical space for new fields of investigation and to enrich the panorama of the theoretical proposals that animated the industrializing society in which Tarde wrote.