**1. Introduction**

256 Sociological Landscape – Theories, Realities and Trends

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Perhaps labour relations and social movements are today – more than ever before – two fields of decisive importance in contemporary sociology. In spite of being issues that can be treated autonomously, in a context of intense and ever-worsening austerity measures in many societies it makes sense, in fact, to think of them as interconnected. Besides, it is difficult to talk of a global crisis in capitalism, of an unemployment crisis, of a crisis in models of collective bargaining, and so on, without talking of the response strategies of society's citizens. So, for this purpose, we need to consider the "old" trade union organisations as well as the "new" ones, and to pay attention to the social networks which are emerging worldwide in the struggle for the right to employment and a dignified future. New groups, languages, proposals and rebels are emerging and, in many countries of the West, the overall society seems to be moving and asking for new agendas and political repertoires. The panorama of a deep economic crisis which in the last few decades has hit Europe and its Welfare state in particular has had an unprecedented impact on employment and social policies. The neoliberal model and the effects of deregulated and global finance not only question the "European social model" but push sectors of the labour force – with the youngest and well-qualified being prominent – into unemployment or precarious jobs.

This text aims to point out the main trends that have taken place in the labour field whilst simultaneously trying to understand what type of responses or ways ahead can be considered, namely of a socio-occupational nature, using the social movements as a starting point. The first part of the chapter centres on the transforming trends and processes associated with the labour market, the types of work and models of organisation of production. In the second part we focus on the most recent waves of protests and social movements, making reference to the experience and new forms of collective action. Our aim is to show the sociological and potential socio-political significance of these actions, particularly as a result of the interconnections that such movements express, both in the sphere of the workplace and industrial system or whether with broader social structures, with special emphasis on the middle classes and the threats of 'proletarianization' that presently hang over them.

Our argument is therefore the following: labour relations of our time are crossed by precariousness and by a new and growing "precariat" which also gave rise to new social movements and new forms of activism and protest. Thus labour relations and social

Labour Relations and Social Movements in the 21st Century 259

As an activity conceived of by man, based on the production of material goods, the provision of services or on the exercise of functions with a view to obtaining results that have social utility and economic value (Freire, 1998: 27), work naturally involves different types of meanings associated with different types of relations: with nature, with production (of goods and merchandise for consumption), with services (provision of services between people), with the idea of transaction (exchange of material goods), with the notion of creation (work is invention and discovery), with spaces/institutions (organisations), etc. On the other hand, labour can also be distinguished from work. For Guy Standing, whilst labour "is about maximizing efficiency and competitiveness" and some of its characteristics are stress, burnout and the loss of control over time, "work captures the activities of necessity, surviving and reproducing, *and* personal development". From this perspective, "in performing work a person has agency, a sense of self-determination" (Standing, 2009: 7). The transformations of the world of work throughout the 20th Century, particularly in Europe, evidence a process of profound social change that calls into question the centrality of labour, and has brought about a new political lexicon: globalization, decentralization, flexibilization (Antunes, 1997; Costa, 2008). In the wake of the Second World War, the dominant model of labour relations, especially in the north of Europe, was based on trade unions and strong and centralised employers' associations that coordinated their performance capacity with that of the governments. The triumph of this model is inseparable from the role of the state because it meant changing from a competitive and purely commercial labour relation to a legally regulated model, giving rise to the idea that: "the guarantee of employment and the notion of employment – the indefinite contract – and social protection led to the so-called social citizenship in post-war Western Europe" (Oliveira and Carvalho, 2010: 27; Costa, 2008: 23-38). In this "golden age", trade union movement acquired notable recognition and became an integral part of the national processes for the promotion of well-being, and, in truth, saw its status move from that of "movement" to one of social "partner". In addition, norms of labour citizenship were defined in the place of work, and governments developed macroeconomic policies that were favourable to full employment (Ross and Martin, 1999a:7). Fordism was confirmed, therefore, as a dominant wage relation model, based on three levels: firstly, as a general principle of work organisation (or *industrial paradigm*), it was an extension of Taylorism through mechanisation and mass consumption; secondly, as a macroeconomic structure (or *regime of accumulation*), it implied that the productivity profits resulting from its organisational principles benefited from the growth of investment financed by the profits, and the growth of the purchasing power of the wage-earning workers; thirdly, as a *form of regulation*, Fordism implied long-term contracting of the wage relation, with strict limitations in relation to dismissals, as well as a programme of growth in salaries indexed to inflation and productivity (Lipietz, 1992; 1996). To these three aspects, Bob Jessop adds a fourth that sees Fordism as a pattern of institutional integration and social cohesion, and considers "the consumption of standardized mass commodities in nuclear family households and the provision of standardized collective goods and services by the

With the oil crisis in the 1970s there began a gradual decline in working conditions and an increase in unemployment that steadily worsened the state fiscal crises. At the same time the

**3. Labour metamorphoses: Fordism and its decline** 

bureaucratic state " (Jessop, 1994: 254).

movements (the title of our article) have been pushed toward new ways and new discourses. In fact, the new socio-labour movements are movements of society, of a younger generation (largely of qualified young people connected to the university system) legitimately protesting against the lack of career opportunities, against the lack of jobs, against the irrationalities of nowadays economic austerity policies. The rapprochement between cultural criticism and social criticism ("critique artistique" vis-àvis "la critique social", quoting Boltanski and Chiapello, 2001) is therefore a logical consequence of contemporary voices and forms of protest.
