Automation and the Future of Work

Praise

“A powerful and persuasive explanation of why capitalism can’t create jobs or generate incomes for a majority of humanity.”
—Mike Davis, author of Set the Night on Fire

“An excellent, insightful account of the contours of our present labor crisis. Benanav articulately makes the case for a post-scarcity future.”
—Robert Skidelsky, biographer of John Maynard Keynes

“A highly quantitative analysis of the nature of contemporary unemployment flowers into something quite different and unexpected: a qualitative argument for the invention of new collective capacities in a world where work is no longer central to social life.”
—Kristin Ross, author of Communal Luxury

“A rare book that manages to soberly assess the contemporary landscape while keeping a clear eye on our utopian horizons. This is an important intervention into current discussions around technology and work—and a must-read for anyone who believes capitalist decay is not the only future.”
—Nick Srnicek, author of Platform Capitalism

“Benanav dissects and disproves the idea that automation is eradicating work … We don’t need to wait for robots to do all the work; we can collectively decide what we need, then plan the economy to achieve it.”
—Paris Marx, Passage

“Thought-provoking … packs quite a punch of macroeconomics and practical philosophy.”
—International Policy Digest

“He can write movingly and do so on a global scale.”
—Patrick McGinty, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“The two parts of Benanav’s book—analytic and utopian—correspond to the two halves of the Marxian project: to both interpret the world, and change it.”
—Lola Seaton, New Statesman

“Compelling reading. A rising star among the intelligentsia of the left.”
—Dublin Review of Books

A powerful critique … [Benanav] carefully chart[s] how our economic system is unable to deliver further social progress and … set[s] out a believable vision of a non-capitalist future.”
—Alexis Moraitis, ROAR

“Crucial … Automation and the Future of Work is impressively multifaceted for such a short text … an excellent book. ”
—Mack Penner, Labour / Le Travail

“Automation and the Future of Work gathers significant cold water to pour on automation’s fever dreams.”
—Amelia Horgan, Radical Philosophy

“Important … an eye-opening perspective for a convincing and encouraging political project.”
—Görkem Giray, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

“Meticulous … provides crucial insights into the causes of global stagnation and its effects on the kinds of work we do now.”
—Clinton Williamson, The Baffler