Changes in the cultural meaning of work: From the individualist myth of progress to new forms of integration between belonging and creativity

Abstract

In this article the authors discuss the hypothesis that the global financial crisis of 2008 primarily was a crisis of the individualist fantasy which had been founding work and economic cultures in the years before as epitomized by the myth of progress – at the heart of the capitalist discourse since its origins in Marx’s thought and then exacerbated by Neoliberalism. The article explores the meaning of new economic forms emerged after 2008 – such as the gig economig and the sharing economy – in terms of new ways of emotionally symbolizing production, resources and the economic dimension, more generally, within social life that these new types of economy represent. In the conclusion, the authors propose the hypothesis that the apparent powdering of organizations in the context of a digital economy tells of a demand for rediscovering multiple ways of belonging which found the meaning of social coexistence – together with and beyond labour – and to take care of the products of such memberships in a creative manner, that is by letting go predatory fantasies. This is a demand psychology can deal with.