Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism

Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Work’s fantasy
Two kinds of unfreedom
Wanting work
1. Work, capitalism and capitalist work
A stitch in time; the history of garment manufacturing
Free and forced work; the dynamics of capitalism
History and myths
2. Contesting ‘work’
The hidden abode’s hidden abode
The housework debates
The fight for legal recognition
Work’s conceptual creep
3. The paradox of new work
‘New work’
Measuring changes things: neoliberalism and perverse incentives
The experience of ‘New Work’
4. What does work do to us as individuals?
Control and the illusion of choice
‘Good work’
Work, inequality, and shame
5. Jobification nation: When play is serious business
The cult of continuous improvement
Identity curation and social media
The false promise of education
6. What does work do to society?
Shared lives, isolated worlds
Work, class and status
Jobs for the girls
Nature’s work
7. Phantoms and slackers: Resistance at work
A taxonomy of slacking off
Workers, Monitored
What are we resisting?
8. Getting together: Organised labour and the workers’ dream
Strength in numbers
From defence to hope
When we snap
9. Time off: Resistance to work
Family realism
Care chains
Conclusion: Getting to work