Pour qui, pour quoi travaillons-nous?

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Italy (Fondazione Centro Studi Campostrini)

Presentation

Jacques Ellul never devoted a book specifically to the subject of work.

And yet, scattered throughout his entire body of work, one can find numerous and frequent considerations on that theme. For quite some time now, it has been possible to observe an extraordinary overabundance of intellectual inquiry into a range of issues related to work: in a period of under a year, hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, studies and surveys, as well as whole books. Alongside those texts, there have been films and plays, as well, of course, as the constant presence of the theme of work in the news and in public debate, whether it takes the shape of technical confrontations between experts or electoral sloganeering. The editors realized that both thematic and chronological readings of Jacques Ellul’s oeuvre show an interesting evolution that is not unrelated to the growing importance granted to work as a preoccupation of modern society, as well, surely as a consequence of that, as a focus for research in the fields of sociology and economics. The publication of this set of texts, assembled and put into perspective, offers a new approach to Jacques Ellul’s oeuvre.

After a revelation that led him to Christianity and an intensive reading of Marx, Jacques Ellul studied law. He then devoted himself to reflection on the evolution of modern society. He noted the disappearance of rural life and the mechanization of man’s environment. He foresaw the magnitude of this ecological and social “great mutation”.

Considering that technique is the determining factor of modern society, he leads a critique of what he calls “technological tyranny”. He further analyses that technique self-increases, imposing its values of efficiency and technical progress, while denying man’s needs  and  culture as well as the nature.

Sociology is not his only field. His work is composed of theologian and historian output.  Some would also say that he is a philosopher, although he did not define himself as such. 

As a militant anarchist whose ideas are close to situationism, but also as a subtle commentator of Marxist thought and excesses, he was instrumental in the establishment of political ecology and reflections on Christian anarchism. He also wrote many theological works on the Gospel’s subversive and liberating aspects and on the “perversion” which the Christian revelation has suffered from. Some of his other works are thoughts on ethics and on hope.

Jacques Ellul can be considered as one of the fathers of the idea of rational economic decay and voluntary simplicity.

“Jacques Ellul, a true thinker” Royaliste

“A kind of clairvoyant who had already predict everything” Réforme

“His writings remained fiery, the prophet’s voice still resonates” La Croix