Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the key implications of, and responses to, the crisis of work; a crisis which has been profoundly affected by crises which are at work, namely the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the escalating climate emergency. We start by exploring the implications for neoliberal capitalism itself. Marx famously argued that capitalism in general was continually being undermined by its own contradictions, such as states of overproduction and underconsumption or the continual search for profits leading to overexploitation of workers and thence to labour unrest and contention. Intensified neoliberalism, particularly in the aftermath of the 2007–8 global financial crisis, has fuelled antagonism, not least because of greater employment precarity (see Chapter 3), the way in which labour is increasingly treated as a commodity (see Chapter 4), prevailing inequalities (see Chapter 5), the weakness of the trade unions (see Chapter 6) and escalating cost- of- living difficulties (see Chapter 7). As a consequence, neoliberal capitalism itself seems to have become immersed in crisis, arising from a backlash against free market and deregulatory policies, a backlash exacerbated by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing recognition that pro- market policies which favour big corporations are inimical to addressing the climate crisis.

As this chapter shows, neoliberalism has responded by taking a more authoritarian guise, accommodating the rising influence of right populist politics (see Chapter 7). How far this can sustain neoliberal capitalism is open to question, however, given the extent to which neoliberalism has become subject to challenge. Resistance to work, manifest in the anti- work movement, is one illustration of this, especially given the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in changing workers’ attitudes. Moreover, integral to the crisis of neoliberalism are the collective efforts of workers, activists and campaigners to challenge it. Simon Springer's vehement and controversial diatribe, Fuck Neoliberalism (2021), demonstrates that moments of crisis almost inevitably fuel protest and opposition. While individuals may be powerless in the face of the ravages of neoliberalism, crises such as those described in this book tend to provoke collective responses.