Abstract

'Transformation' − a word with many meanings, embedded in social context and with much political currency. But what might be its importance to the world of work and labour scholarship?

Through an exploration of the meaning of this term (or concept?) for the world of work, this address will examine important themes in South African labour scholarship discussing various ways in which both (the empirical world of) work and scholarship has responded to change.

Transformations happen through a number of prisms – spatial, economic, political and technological − which then reverberate through the world of work. The address opens a window onto these different spheres, mapping the impacts on the world of work and the scholarship of work.

The talk starts by presenting vignettes of work during the heyday of apartheid – a time when it is said labour scholarship dominated South African sociology and manufacturing dominated the economy. It then moves to explore the different spaces of transformation since then, highlighting the ways in which transformation has become embodied. Amongst the narratives of transformation discussed are those of time, place, the labour market, the global economy, the supply chain, labour, and technology. The address ends with the question: 'Where to now for labour scholarship?'

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