Czech Film Center

Synopsis

We live in an era of openness, where the chances of those who are quick and agile are increasing. While capital is faster, the adaptation of those who, for whatever reason, are treading water is that much slower. Technical developments have brought release from servile relationships for large masses of people and offered them a new social standing based on work. Thus work has become the new agent of socialisation, which has enabled billions of people to improve their conditions and achieve a new degree of freedom. In the last half-century, however, more and more of the work in factories is being done by machines and the remaining manual human work is being moved to developing countries because of higher profits. A philosopher, sociologist, economist, expert in developing countries and several workers, unionists and unemployed people reflect on this theme of today's situation in the Czech Republic and on the background of a diverse spectrum of human businesses - from textiles, glass, automobiles or matches to the multinational IT business. It is put into the context of key global trends.