The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind
We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering over 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs.
Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity’s busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state. He examines how labor is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; and at the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure.
From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies to the precarious existence of today’s gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination at work throws essential light on the opportunities we face today.
Review
'If being forced to work feels bad, it is nowhere near as bad as having no worthwhile work to do. Lucassen's masterly book shows how the human need for fulfilment in shared tasks has confronted technological and social forces that pit us against each other in a struggle to appropriate the material rewards of work and the esteem that comes with it.'--Paul Seabright, author of The Company of Strangers
'This magisterial study distils a life's work to make sense of labour relations over millennia. Lucassen probes the degrees of freedom under which people have created meaning, sought cooperation and demanded fairness in households, plantations, workshops and factories across the globe.'--Eileen Boris, author of Making the Woman Worker
'Lucassen brilliantly anchors world history in human agency through work. In every era, he finds the household as the backbone of work - the site of domestic labour and the source of social labour. Throughout, he illustrates the principles of meaning, cooperation and fairness in work. A memorable volume.' --Patrick Manning, author of A History of Humanity
About the Author
Podrobnosti
| Autor |
Jan Lucassen |
|---|---|
| Vydavatel |
Yale University Press |
| Jazyk | anglicky |
| Vazba | pevná |
| Počet stran | 544 |
| Formát | 16,5 × 23,5 cm |
| EAN | 9780300256796 |
| Rok vydání | 2021 |
| Edice |
Historie Společnost a společenské vědy |
Autor
Jan Lucassen
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