Jobless and out of time? Temporality as a central variable for rethinking the relationship between the individual and the experience of work

Abstract

Work organizations are among the social structures that most significantly impact individuals’ temporality, shaping their existence both within and beyond the increasingly porous boundaries of work, often at a microphysical level. This temporality, imposed as a constraint by organizations with varying degrees of flexibility but too often underestimated, can be identified as one of the main causes of phenomena such as “quit-quitting” or the “great resignation”, as well as one of the reasons - especially among the young - underlying the possibility of contemplating a life without work, something that was once considered impossible and unthinkable. The main hypothesis of this contribution is based on the idea that addressing the issue of temporality within the world of organizations and, simultaneously, in educational institutions can promote new opportunities for interaction between individuals and organizations, as well as opening up ways to inhabit this dimension in creative, original, and more sustainable directions.