Chapter Cosa nascondono le grandi dimissioni? Riflessioni di un giuslavorista sul rifiuto del lavoro

Abstract

The essay deals with a topic little studied by labor law scholars, which concerns the disaffection and refusal of work in contemporary capitalist society. Recent studies on "big resignations" seem to demonstrate an “escape” from work, the causes of which can be identified, according to this contribution, in the transition from the guaranteed and stable work of Fordism to the precarious work of neoliberal capitalism. The author recalls studies on the topic of a sociological and political nature, to demonstrate how the refusal of work is linked to historically recent phenomena born precisely in this epochal transition. In the legal system these phenomena come into conflict with the duty to work, also stated by the Italian Constitution, in art. 4 of the Constitution. The author intends to critically discuss the contradictory co-presence of opposing imperatives: on the one hand work is identified as a duty and, in some cases, a real legal obligation of the individual, on the other the system creates the conditions to devalue work and destroy the "civilization of work", so as to fuel the refusal of work. The phenomenon, according to the author, is not marginal or secondary, becoming increasingly important and central with the birth of platform capitalism, in which work is subjected to a further and more radical transformation, while the production of value shifts in the network and becomes immaterial, invisible and distant from traditional forms of work.