Work and Personality in Flexible Capitalism

The focus of this article is the relation between work and personality in exible cap- italism. The concept of work still represents one of the major factors determining modern individuals’ ability (or inability) to formulate personal, stable identities that enable them to become fully socialized. Both Georg Simmel and Max Weber among the classics of German sociology make reference to a common theoreti- cal background that views the human being as a creature with originally rational potential, who is faced with the task of becoming a personality by means of con- sciously chosen life behaviour. Drawing from classic as well as contemporary soci- ological theory, the article explores the two spheres of identity and work in exible capitalism. Despite the complexity of modern subjectivity and the great number of its af liations, the sphere of work still remains the de facto decisive sphere for rec- ognition, socialization, self-esteem, and self-de nition. It remains the eld in which the ‘decisive plays’ for de nition of subjectivity take place—and the struggle for its possible emancipation.