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Social rights in terms of welfare and work are disappearing from the European political agenda, the more so as austerity is assumed to be the only imperative response to the financial crisis. This book, which collects the results of the leading European integrated research project CAPRIGHT ("Resources, Rights and Capabilities: In Search of Social Foundations for Europe"), argues for an alternative way out, which puts the enhancement of citizens' capabilities at the core of the European social model. The contributors show why and how a democracy grounded in economic and social life - where a plurality of voices may be heard, where citizens participate in collective bargaining and public deliberation - is crucial for the Europe's future. The contributions in this book are the result of a four-year period of research and workshops (2007-2010), with the main focus on how lifelong learning, the labour market, employment and social protection combine in terms of personal experience and whether the resources available at certain key points are sufficient, when factors creating risk or discontinuity can impede personal development.

Formerly in a monopolistic situation and running on a politico-administrative mode, Gaz de Bordeaux is a network industry now part of a competitive market. The present case study of this local public utility is meant to identify the nature of its modernisation and to measure its effects as well on the system of social regulations and professional identities, as on the capacities of action and forms of appropriation/resistance developed by the various categories of actors within the company. From a methodological point of view, we pledged ourselves with a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, aiming at articulating analysis of the work being done with that of collective action, both considered as linked realities. As work gains in intensity, in both senses of productive pressure (do more in less time and with fewer staff) and interest (given the need expressed by every person to come true by the reality of its work), the company appears as disrespectful of the quality of work possible and the capacities mobilized by individuals that modern management precisely contributed to develop. Faced with this reorganisation of work, labor unions struggle to grasp the issues at stake in modern employment relationships and translate individual complaints in renewed collective claims. Despite increasing individual withdrawal behaviours, working collectives recompose on new bases. We therefore revisit the origin of suffering at work; from its contemporary mutations, we present evidence for what we believe is one of its current major problems: the one at stake around what employees call a "well done work", at the very moment when management is concerned with quality., Jusqu'ici en situation monopolistique et fonctionnant sur un mode politico-administratif, Gaz de Bordeaux est une industrie de réseau s'inscrivant désormais dans un marché concurrentiel. Cette étude de cas a cherché à cerner la nature et à mesurer les effets de la modernisation de ce service public local, aussi bien sur les systèmes de régulation sociale et les identités professionnelles, que sur les capacités d'action et les formes d'appropriation/résistance développées par les différentes catégories d'acteurs. D'un point de vue méthodologique, elle a combiné approches qualitative et quantitative et a cherché à articuler l'analyse du travail en train de se faire avec celle de l'action collective. Au moment où le travail gagne en intensité, au double sens de pression productive, mais aussi d'intérêt, l'entreprise apparaît trop irrespectueuse de la qualité du travail possible et des capacités mobilisables par les individus que le management moderne a précisément contribué à développer. Face à cette réorganisation du travail, les syndicats peinent de leur côté à saisir les enjeux contenus dans la relation de travail moderne et à traduire les plaintes individuelles renouvelées en revendications collectives. Parce que le développement de comportements individuels de retrait n'empêche pas les collectifs de travail de se recomposer sur de nouvelles bases, nous reconsidérons l'origine de la souffrance au travail et mettons en évidence un des problèmes majeurs lié à ses transformations contemporaines : celui qui se joue autour de ce que les salariés nomment " le travail bien fait " au moment même où le discours managérial affiche la qualité au centre de ses préoccupations.