Work in the 20th Century
In Our Time
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The Uncertainty of Work
There have always been periods of great uncertainty in capitalism. But I think this is an era that's unusual in that uncertainty and risk have been pursued with a kind of positive vengeance. There's also been a greater willingness now than there was a century ago to displace middle-aged workers in favor of the young. These are basic changes in emphasis, which are problems that have to be addressed in some way. Our aspirations are different now. In other words, we are educating people, and of course they're more curious, and they want to do many more things in life. They want to have seven lives. The whole of modern history is about the children of such people running away from that
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