In this introduction to a special section of the Journal of Sociology, on Meaningful Work in Late Modernity, we will explore the implications of late modern reflexivity for how work is experienced and conducted. The transformation in intellectual debates about the progress of human history, which has been described as the emergence of ‘late modernity’, is a reflection of the cultural and material circumstances of scholarship. Scholarship is not beyond either society or capital in its commodification as labour. In the humanities and social sciences, those ideas that can be valorised, transmitted to enrich and entice each node along the academic supply chain, become reified as ‘classics’ and something like ‘normal science’ (Kuhn, 1962). In theorising the whole of society, scholarship attempts to become a self-gazing eye. But it was not until the debates and concepts which are here described as ‘late modern’ (and elsewhere described as postmodern) that the observer was put on equal footing with the observed. From within the contemporary pantheon of ‘classics’, Pierre Bourdieu famously described sociology as a ‘martial art’ – not as a neutral observer of social life, but as a tactical discipline that becomes meaningful to the extent that it is political. This characterisation of sociology is reflected in Zygmunt Bauman’s characterisation of modernity generally: ‘the life of modern men and women is a task, not a given, and a task as yet uncompleted and relentlessly calling for more care and new effort’ (2000: 134). Progress, for modern persons as for sociologists, will not come about as a consequence of living, but through living a life dedicated to seeking out the meaning of progress. As scholars, working from within the realm of experiences that we are describing, we are not neutral conveyors of history’s produce, but are engaging in acts of cultivation. Rather than arguing that there are distinctly late modern forms of work and thus committing the fallacy of periodising late modernity, we will describe how work situations are formed through social norms recognised by contemporary scholarship as late modern

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现代晚期的有意义的工作：介绍

在《社会学杂志》关于晚期现代性中有意义的工作的一个特殊部分的介绍中，我们将探讨晚期现代反思性对如何体验和进行工作的影响。关于人类历史进步的知识辩论的转变，被描述为“晚期现代性”的出现，是学术的文化和物质环境的反映。学术作为劳动的商品化并没有超越社会或资本。在人文科学和社会科学中，那些可以被重视、传播以丰富和吸引学术供应链上每个节点的思想，被具体化为“经典”和类似“常规科学”的东西（Kuhn，1962）。在对整个社会进行理论化的过程中，学术试图成为一种自我注视的眼睛。但是直到这里被描述为“晚期现代”（在其他地方被描述为后现代）的辩论和概念才将观察者置于与被观察者同等的地位。在当代“经典”万神殿中，皮埃尔·布尔迪厄 (Pierre Bourdieu) 将社会学描述为一种“武术”——不是作为社会生活的中立观察者，而是作为一种策略学科，只要它具有政治意义，就会变得有意义。社会学的这种特征反映在齐格蒙特·鲍曼对现代性的一般特征描述中：“现代男女的生活是一项任务，而不是既定的任务，一项尚未完成的任务，需要更多的关怀和新的努力”（2000：134 ）。对于现代人和社会学家来说，进步不会是生活的结果，而是通过过一种致力于寻求进步意义的生活。作为学者，在我们所描述的经验领域内工作，我们不是历史产物的中立传送者，而是从事耕作行为。与其争辩说存在明显的晚期现代工作形式并因此犯下晚期现代性分期的谬误，我们将描述工作情境是如何通过当代学术界公认的晚期现代社会规范形成的。