Inaugural lecture Jessica de Bloom: 'Time is honey'

On Friday, June 28, Professor Jessica de Bloom will deliver her inaugural lecture for the Aletta Jacobs Chair in Human Resource Management, Occupational Health, and Wellbeing. In this lecture, she will describe four challenges of modern work: meaning, workload, burnout and flexibility. She will address questions such as: Why do we frame leisure time as “recovery from work”? Does this imply that leisure should serve work? Can we even distinguish between work and leisure in lives in which work is no longer confined to a specific time or place?

More freedom, more workload

Somewhat paradoxically, while working conditions have drastically improved for most workers over the past centuries, with increased autonomy and flexibility in time and space, workload and burnout are on the rise. De Bloom argues that the modern quest for meaning and freedom can lead to exploitation, exhaustion, and erosion of community.

Using many examples from the academic working context, she suggests that neoliberal worldviews and a fixation on individual freedom at the expense of people’s social nature are a core reason for today’s workplace problems. More specifically, freedom became a guiding principle of society, forcing the individual to organize their life according to rational, economic principles of efficiency and become “entrepreneurs of the self” (see also Foucault´s lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979). For sustainable working lives, de Bloom argues that we need to shift the attention to the collective and the social basis of autonomy.  

A new concept for autonomy

In her future work, Professor de Bloom aims to contribute to a new conceptualization of autonomy that adequately reflects both the social and the individual nature of human beings.  She contends that research and society need to rethink the idea of leisure serving work, and work time as an indicator of productivity. Her vision is for a post-work society where people are seen as holistic beings, with lives outside of paid jobs that deserve attention and are valuable to society.

More information

Jessica de Bloom's inaugural lecture will take place on Friday 28 June 2024, 16:15 - 17:00, in the aula of the Academy Building.

Please register by 21 June at the latest via the registration form.

Livestream on 28 June, see: www.rug.nl/digitale-oratie

Questions? Please contact Jessica de Bloom.