Beyond Employment

This book examines the debate surrounding the future of "waged work" and the growth of an informal economy. Through detailed research, Claus Offe and Rolf G. Heinze contend that the nature of waged work, or exchanging time for money, is being transformed. They argue that the experiences of recent decades and the persistent crisis of employment have demonstrated this transition despite the fact that "being employed" is held to be the normal psychological, social, and economic state of affairs. This is the first sustained analysis of the relationship between work and the "informal economy." Focusing on the middle-ground between the two institutionalized sectors of employmentprivate households and the labor marketthe authors explain how an informal economy has emerged within which goods and services are exchanged, not for money but for mutual assistance, cooperation, and payment in kind. They show how these non-monetary exchanges are becoming organized not only between friends, neighbors, relatives, or members of a club, but through larger scale, innovative systems which they call "cooperation circles." Offe and Heinze cite examples of exchange networks in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada. Author note: Claus Offe is Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Bremen. Rolf G. Heinze is Professor of Sociology at the Ruhr-Universitat, Bochum.