Not sure how to phrase this. It will be a mish-mash of nonsense I can imagine, but perhaps there will be enough clarity for responders to point me in some appropriate directions.
I am relatively new to a serious study of Marxism despite the fact I've considered myself a leftist of some sorts for the better part of the last decade. So I have a good familiarity with many thinkers, movements and so on from a surface level at least. Actually, I have traditionally read much more about anarchism, but I am beginning to shift in my perspectives. Questioning everything. Who knows where I stand, I certainly do not.
To get to the point...
I am interested in finding writings dealing with scarcity and employment, especially in advanced capitalist industrialist countries. Whether scarcity is real or a tool used by the ruling classes. The changing nature of work in relation to questions of scarcity/post-scarcity. The effects of automation and technological advancement on the working class and industrial make-up of advanced capitalist societies. Is the concept of a leisure society gaining steam? What does that mean --- does that mean French people drink wine in pristine beaches paying little heed to work while the third world continues on in the factories of polluted cities while residing in dirty shanty towns? Is the concept of work as we know it outdated? Can we continue to create "service" jobs out of thin air? What major movements are pushing or discussing the idea that maybe unemployment/leisure is quickly becoming the norm and that we will will have to examine a more just distribution of work for the tasks of the 'underclass' like cleaning, waste disposal, farm work, etc? Jobs very devalued in our modern world (at least America where farm workers continue to make under 10k a year, cleaning jobs unorganized and looked down upon, etc)
I suppose I am looking for Marxist analysis on the key words of --- scarcity, leisure society in advanced Capitalist society, do we need a new distribution of labor, what does this mean for the developing world, automation, liberation from work etc.
I do not want to be referred to any individualist anarchist, anti-civ, post-left or other nonsensical sources. I am a firm humanist and believer in scientific and techno-progress.
I purchased an introduction to the thought of ANDRE GORZ and hope to receive that book soon. Is that a good start? What else? Who else? I am interested in all fields of thought and social science on these issues.
Hope I made myself slightly clear.