Introduction
Remote work is now the new norm for many knowledge workers around the world.
With little known about the implications of this, ReWorkChange will deliver the first global comparative study of the consequences of remote work and always-on-connectivity on knowledge workers’ everyday lives.
The project will adopt the holistic approach of anthropology, which is best suited for studying the complexity and intricacies of people's lives as they unfold across multiple social, digital and physical environments. The project’s strength lies in its genuine global comparison that takes into account historical and cultural differences across the global south and global north divide.
ReWorkChange will focus on knowledge workers in six countries: China, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Turkey. All these countries are characterized by the significant presence of either an established or expanding middle class, coupled with an advanced information economy.
Research objectives
Firstly, each ethnography will systematically explore practices related to the same four research objectives:
- House and home. How is domestic work transforming organization of space in the house and practices of home-making?
- Family and household. How is remote work changing family relationships and/or relationships within the household?
- Wider social relationships. How is remote work changing wider social relationships? Does remote work facilitate new forms of friendships and networks? Does it strengthen traditional communities and kinships? Or does it contribute to social fragmentation and individualism?
- Mobility and urban place-making. What forms of geographic mobility does remote work enable and facilitate? How do mobile remote workers relate to urban spaces and how do they experience them? What are the consequences of remote workers’ (im)mobility on urban neighbourhoods and cities?
Secondly, the project will develop a global theory of remote work and social change that builds on the comparison between the six field-sites.
Theoretical framework
The project will draw from practice theory. It proposes to study homes, families, and personal and social relationships among remote workers by examining the digital and non-digital practices that shape them.
Methodology
ReWorkChange will be grounded in long-term intensive ethnographic fieldwork. It will build on the anthropological tradition that emphasises the importance of long-term ethnography for gaining deeper knowledge of research participants’ social worlds offline and online. It will also build on the primary methods of digital anthropology and material culture studies that are based on the direct observation of concrete objects, technologies and practices.