Debate on Work Sciences: what are we talking about?

Abstract

The debate on work has occupied, in recent years, an important space in the approaches to Labor Sciences, especially those developed by CNAMParis (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) or inspired by this school. Disciplines such as Ergonomics, Psychodynamics of Work, or Activity Clinic have presented methods that develop the debate of and at work, to understand the activity performed, and to contribute to the transformation of work situations. Despite this, the literature is scarce regarding the particularities of the debate in each of these disciplines and their methods. Thus, the objective of this essay is to seek to understand what makes up the debate in the approaches of the Work Sciences and its potential, identifying the particularities inherent to each one of them. It is possible to notice that there are similarities – such as the analytical centrality of the contradictions in the debate – but also many singularities between the disciplines and their methods, such as the functioning of the spaces in which the debate takes place and the way in which it is able to analyze the activity and transform work situations. Finally, we defend the need to incorporate the specificities of the debate in research on the subject, thus avoiding cacophonies on the subject.