Workers’ Inquiry for the Museum Workers
Posted on | May 10, 2011 | No Comments
What is your level of education?
Where did you study? Was it a public or private institution?
For how long did you study? In case it was longer than expected, what was the reason?
Did you have a scholarship? If not, who paid for your studies?
Did you work as a student?
Where did you work?
What kind of work did you do? (Manual labor / »creative industries« / volunteer work / work within the university (assistant)… / internships / other?)
How many hours a day/week did you work? How much did you earn?
Did you get health benefits/paid holidays?
Were you able to cover all of your expenses by yourself? If not, who supported you?
Did you attend to any alternative courses/education? If so, what kind and where?
How long did it take you to find a job after finishing your studies? Was it related to your studies?
Have you worked as an intern? In case you have, where and for how long?
Which were your responsibilities?
Was it a paid internship? If not, did they give you any kind of benefits?
How many hours a day/week did you work?
After finishing the internship period did you have the opportunity to apply for a position in the same place? Were you offered a contract? If not. What was the reason?
Are you still involved with any academic institution? If you are, what is the nature of this link?
Do you consider your work as culture related? In which field of culture do you work?
What is your job in the Museum?
How long have you been working here?
Before working here, did you work in the same field?
What do you produce in your work?
Are the results of your work shared with others in any way? How?
What kind of contract do you have in the museum? Government employee / Freelance / fixed-term contract / short-term contract / service contract
In case your position is temporary, how does this condition your life? Would you prefer to have a permanent position? Why?
Have you ever applied for a government position?
How much do you earn?
Do you consider your work as well paid? Is it enough for your living expenses?
How many hours do you work per day?
Do you have a Health Insurance? Is it Social Security or a Private Insurance? Is it covered by your employer?
Are your social security contributions taken into account for your unemployment insurance?
How many days of vacation do you have? Are they paid?
Are you granted sick leave?
Do you have maternity leave?
Do you have any opportunity to be promoted? Which are your possibilities?
Do you have another job different from this one? Why? What kind of job is it?
Do you spend your free time in any other kind of occupation? Describe it
How often, apart from your working hours, do you visit the museum? Do you attend to any of the conferences or audiovisual programs that take place here?
How is your relationship with your work? Do you enjoy it or does it make you feel frustrated in any way?
Does your job allow you to be creative?
Do you consider your working environment as competitive? If so, how does this affect your performance?
Have you ever filed a complaint? If so, what was the reason? To whom?
Have you ever taken part on a strike?
Where are you from? Is your place of origin relevant when discussing your work life? Would you have the chance to apply for a similar job – like the one you currently have – in your place of origin? If so, what would be the difference between the two options?
Did you expect to end up working in your actual job? Has it fulfilled your expectations?
Do you consider your job conditions somehow precarious?
Do you think there is a social appreciation of Cultural work?
Should your work be considered as a public service? Why? Having in mind the educational and pedagogical aspects, how does your work contribute to the society?
Do you think that producing knowledge is a work? What does it mean to you the expression « to produce knowledge »?
Do you share the political view of the Institution? What do you think about it?
Do you consider the image that the institution projects of itself coherent with its practice and activities?
Do you think the new policy for designation of a director has influenced your everyday work?
Are you afraid of losing your job?
**
The questions are part of the research done in the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid (see previous posts) by the Workers’ Inquiry Group and are based on Marx’s Workers’ Inquiry from 1881, when the Revue Socialiste asked him to carry out a study into the conditions of the French proletariat. Relying on Marx too literally would not make sense today as the questions he posed are largely obsolete and his “ontology closes off any possibility of innovation.”[1] The potential lies in rereading him: “to read Marx not so much as a thinker, [but] rather as someone who demands his theory to become socially effective”[2]. That was also the idea underpinning the research process: not to simply use his questions but to compose new, relevant ones that would respond to current working conditions and life situations
[1] Maurizio Lazzarato, Multiplicity, totality and politics, in Parrhesia number 9, 2010, p. 26
[2] Jože Barši, 2009, Reading Capital, http://radical.temp.si/2009/07/reading-capital-by-joze-barsi/
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