Framing essay: the diversity of labour

Abstract

This chapter introduces diverse economies understandings of work and labour, exploring what it means to work, the different ways we are compensated for that work, and how working lives are interwoven with concerns of power, gender and identity. A diverse economies approach offers a systematic way to unravel what working lives consist of by taking into account the many forms of both paid and unpaid labour that sustain us. Using examples from both the majority and minority worlds, this chapter argues that recognition of the diversity of labour is an essential starting point for identifying the ethical negotiations at the heart of human livelihoods. The ultimate concern is not just to account for the myriad stuff that must be done for survival, but to think through what must be done in order to survive well, as individuals, as families, and as communities with our human and non-human planetary others.