Research Catalog

Title

Work : a deep history, from the stone age to the age of robots / James Suzman.

Author

Suzman, James

Publication

• New York : Penguin Press, 2021.
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 444 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• "A revolutionary new history of humankind through the prism of work by leading anthropologist James Suzman"--
• Work defines who we are. It determines our status, and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hard-wired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are. Drawing insights from anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, zoology, physics, and economics, he shows that while we have evolved to find joy meaning and purpose in work, for most of human history our ancestors worked far less and thought very differently about work than we do now. He demonstrates how our contemporary culture of work has its roots in the agricultural revolution ten thousand years ago. Our sense of what it is to be human was transformed by the transition from foraging to food production, and, later, our migration to cities. Since then, our relationships with one another and with our environments, and even our sense of the passage of time, have not been the same. Arguing that we are in the midst of a similarly transformative point in history, Suzman shows how automation might revolutionize our relationship with work and in doing so usher in a more sustainable and equitable future for our world and ourselves.

Subject

• Work > History
• BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General
• Work

Genre/Form

• Instructional and educational works.
• History.

Note

• "First published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Circus, part of the Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020."--Title page verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction: The economic problem -- In the beginning. To live is to work ; Idle hands and busy beaks ; Tools and skills ; Fire's other gifts -- The provident environment. "The original affluent society" ; Ghosts in the forest -- Toiling in the fields. Leaping off the edge ; Feasts and famines ; Time is money ; The first machines -- Creatures of the city. The bright lights ; The malady of infinite aspiration ; Top talent ; The death of a salaryman ; The new disease -- Conclusion.

Call Number

JFE 21-3616

ISBN

• 9780525561750
• 0525561757

LCCN

• 2020040534
• 40030345791

OCLC

1153481227

Author

Suzman, James, author.

Title

Work : a deep history, from the stone age to the age of robots / James Suzman.

Publisher

New York : Penguin Press, 2021.

Copyright Date

©2020

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Suzman, James, Work New York : Penguin Press, 2021. 9780525561767 (DLC) 2020040535

Other Standard Identifier

40030345791

Research Call Number

JFE 21-3616