Changes in labor market, changes in work values, changes in human identity: an approach from the discourse analysis view

Abstract

Work culture appears in our society during the first industrialization, supported by liberal thinking and Protestant ethics. This culture has become one of the pillars of modern society, constituting archetypes and human identity, as work legitimizes, identifies and socializes persons. During the XIX century and part of the XX, work culture has been the foundations of the main ideological trends. However, last 25 years have witnessed the appearance of a new neoliberal or neocapitalist trend with capacity to direct technological development and impose a new commercial and productive model. This trend has destroyed social contract and Welfare State, and also has triggered a crisis in the salary-based society and in human identity, which has led individuals and groups to seek for adaptation strategies. This research addresses the signs of some of these changes in the discourse analysis from a geographical and sociological point of view, based on age, sex, and labor position groups.