INDUSTRIAL WORK, INSTRUMENTALISM, LEARNING-PROCESSES - AN OLD DEBATE IN A UTOPIAN PERSPECTIVE

Recent research on unskilled industrial work suggests that workers' or ientations to work are complex and ambivalent - implying defence mecha nisms, resistance and (latent) interest in the work and its change. Th is notion is discussed in the first part of the article and it represe nts the theoretical starting point for the project presented in the se cond part. In a current action research project, called 'Industry and Happiness', an egalitarian co-operation between unskilled workers and researchers has been developed. Through a utopian working method the w orkers have developed autonomous learning processes. On the basis of t heir own experiences they have produced visions of a democratic indust ry - viewed as part of a better life. The workers and researchers aim at a practical social experiment in order to try out the visions, step by step, in a future self-governed fishing industry.