Work Want Work

Work Want Work considers in captivating detail howa logic of work has become integral to everything we do, even as the place offormal work has become increasingly precarious. With reference to sociologicaldata, philosophy, political theory, legislation, the testimonies of workers andan eclectic mix of cultural texts - from Lucian Freud to Google, Anthony Giddensto selfies, Jean-Luc Nancy to Amy Winehouse - Pfannebecker and Smith lay outhow the capitalism of globalized technologies has put our time, oursubjectivities, our experiences and our desires to work in unprecedented ways.As every part of life is colonizedby work without securing our livelihoods, new questions need to be asked:whether a nostalgia for work can save us, how ideas of work change conceptionsof political community, how employment and unemployment alike have become malemployment,and whether the work of our desire online can be disentangled from capitalistexploitation.The biggest question, at a time whenthe end of work and a fully automated future are proclaimed by Silicon Valleyidealists as well as by social democratic politicians and left-wing theorists,is this: how can we propose a post-work society and culture that we willactually want?