by Thomas Barth - Georg Jochum - Beate Littig
Although everyone seems to be talking about digitalisation and the associated change processes, the links to the future of work and sustainability transformations have rarely been explored to date. If we look at a specific problem sector, such as transport and the goal of sustainable mobility, it becomes clear that the current transformations in the areas of sustainability, digitalisation and work can only be understood and addressed together.
The consequences of digitalisation, both in terms of work and sustainable mobility, may seem uncertain, but in the end they somehow point to the future. Away from the horror scenarios of rapid job losses, the discourse on Work 4.0 focuses primarily on the so-called challenges and opportunities. And in terms of sustainability, the digital networking of technical artefacts such as vehicles and individual behaviour patterns also offers a promising scenario: we all move around digitally networked, in shared vehicles, flexibly and individually, almost emission-free. However, if the question of how we will work is ignored, there is a risk of a dead end. What's more, it could backfire - it could lead to more work, more resource consumption and more traffic.
This is why the design perspective of a digital, socially and ecologically sustainable mobility transition must converge with an ecologically expanded concept of future work - in other words: sustainable work.
A sustainable mobility transition needs sustainable work
A sustainable mobility transition is primarily aimed at overcoming the dominance of individualised automobile transport, which - thanks to a historically strong trade union presence - still offers a comparatively large number of good jobs. In ecological terms, however, this is a fundamental problem of the transport sector, which is widely regarded as the problem child of environmental and climate protection policy: the efficiency gains to date have been almost completely offset by the global trend of automotive traffic growth. Only if the increase in large, heavy cars is stopped can other elements such as the electrification of drive systems, the shift to walking and cycling as well as public transport and car-sharing and ride-pooling concepts take effect. So far, new sharing mobility offers (cheaper and more flexible than public transport) and electric cars (as a second car) seem to have led to a shift to the road, i.e. more traffic and more resource consumption. The increased demand for raw materials for battery cells associated with electrified automobility is also - as in the fossil fuel sector - likely to be a major source of conflict and is already associated with equally disastrous working conditions. The trend towards supposedly advanced e-scooters and new mobility services is also socially and ecologically unsustainable in terms of labour quality and resource consumption.
Fewer and different cars on the roads - and in any case: more walking and cycling - these are the challenges facing politicians and the automotive industry (and therefore also the people who work here). The objective is clear: less traffic, with at least the same level of mobility in terms of accessibility to necessary and desirable offers and services. But what does this mean for the work of the future and the workers if fundamentally different and far fewer cars are produced overall? The concept of sustainable work provides a perspective that links these questions.
Sustainable work as a concept for the future
To date, sustainability has rarely been associated with work. However, there is currently a lot of movement in this field in science and politics. In the process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in 2015, the UNDP report "Work and Human Development" called for a process towards "sustainable work". This is defined as "work that is conducive to human development while reducing or eliminating negative externalities [...] in different geographical and temporal contexts."
In addition to the question of the ecological consequences of work, global development issues are also addressed and a comprehensive social transformation of the working society is suggested, which includes all forms of human labour. In addition to gainful employment, private care and nursing activities, all creative and civic activities that people perform are also coming into focus. In terms of gainful employment, the path to sustainable work is likely to involve the loss of existing jobs - for example in the fossil-fuelled automotive sector - but also the relocation and creation of new job opportunities. So far, however, despite all the progress that has been made, such approaches remain tied to the paradigm of economic growth - Goal 8 of the SDGs, for example, is "Decent work and economic growth". This should be followed by discussions on alternative concepts of prosperity and their relationship to labour issues and, for example, the democratic shaping of the economy.
A sustainable mobility transitionThe end combines a good life and good work
Against this background of the mission statement of sustainable work, four thought-provoking impulses can be formulated for the question of the connection between sustainability, digitalisation and work using the example of the mobility transition.
Firstly, the automotive industry and the transport sector are currently undergoing a transformation anyway, but more in the direction of socio-ecologically unsustainable alternative forms of mobility at the expense of nature, quality of work and jobs.
Secondly, this leads to the realisation that company change processes must be linked to greater co-determination beyond issues of job security: What is produced in the car factories of the future and under what conditions should be orientated towards society's mobility needs. This is where it becomes clear that sustainable work is also a question of power.
Thirdly, less traffic does not necessarily result from the digital networking of modes of transport and of supply and demand. What is needed, on the other hand, are shorter journeys, including journeys to work, through solidarity-based and modern forms of regionalisation, i.e. an actual mix of uses at neighbourhood level.
Fourthly, these new mixes would also include the relationship between gainful employment and non-gainful employment in the sense of upgrading the latter. After all, if fewer cars are produced in an increasingly digitalised way in the future and economic cycles are organised regionally, this may create more time for other things: time for a way of life based on solidarity that combines good living and good work.
Author information
Thomas Barth, Dr phil, is a temporary academic advisor at the Institute of Sociology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.
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Georg Jochum, Dr phil., is a research assistant at the Chair of Sociology of Science at the Munich Centre for Technology in Society at the Technical University of Munich.
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Beate Littig, Dr rer. soc. habil, is a university lecturer at the University of Vienna and heads the research platform for socio-ecological transformation research at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna.
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