The book. A suffering, work? This is what the etymology which is regularly attached to it suggests. The word “work” comes from the Latin tripalium, which refers to a three-legged torture device. What powerfully support all the critical speeches against him. Except that… “this hypothesis, which appeared in the XXe century is most likely fanciful”, says linguist Franck Lebas. It would more surely have for origin the Latin word trabswhich means ” beam “ and who gave “span” And “hinder”. “The idea of constraint is there, but we are far from the idea of torture”notes Mr. Lebas.
The linguist has embarked, with numerous researchers (economists, historians, psychologists, etc.), on a meticulous hunt for commonplaces affecting the world of work. Those who assure that “employment is a thing of the past”that “foreigners take the work of the French” or “management has become horizontal” And “that there is no longer a leader”.
A book came out of it, Misconceptions about work. Job, activity, organizationproduced under the direction of Marie-Anne Dujarier, professor of sociology at the University of Paris Cité, over which the authors deconstruct stereotypes one by one.
The essay is intended first of all to be a methodical exercise in confronting received ideas with figures and facts. “We can’t find any more to recruit” because the unemployed are of bad will? “This guilt-inducing perspective does not hold (…) not face the data available on the French job market “writes the sociologist Hadrien Clouet, stressing that“we are recruiting (…) more and faster than ever ».
Height against stereotypes
Same desire to test the facts for the economist Michaël Zemmour. In France, the work would cost too much. Faced with this assertion, the researcher highlights the “socialized part” net salary in France (the CSG and social security contributions). Then he shows that in other countries, such as Switzerland or the United States, where the situation is different, “employers and employees jointly subscribe to private insurance contracts (…) which are significantly more expensive than French Social Security”. He stresses, at the same time, that in France “net salaries are relatively moderate”.
While returning to the reality of the facts, the authors challenge often liberal readings, sometimes carried by employers, of the labor market and the business world. Readings which ensure that there would be too many civil servants in France. That competition at work would be natural and would benefit everyone. That being your own boss would allow you to be free. An assertion taken up by sociologist Sarah Abdelnour to underline how much the situation of the self-employed appears ambivalent and can, on the contrary, lead to a “self-exploitation”.
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