Post-Work: The Radical Idea Of A World Without Jobs

When you first meet someone, after asking their name, and perhaps where they are from, the next thing you are most likely to ask them is: “What do you do for a living?” In the modern day, we define ourselves — more than almost anything else — by our work.

But the time when everyone has a job is likely coming to an end. Automation is creeping into an ever greater number of sectors of the economy, and more and more people are being forced into unemployment or freelance jobs. Society is now being told to prepare for a post-work future, whatever that may mean.

Whether it be towards a universal basic income, mass unemployment and poverty, or some more esoteric outcome, the relationship that society has to work is about to change dramatically. Thinkers around the world are now giving rise to a whole new field of ideas related to 'post-work' and the ways in which we can both reorganise our social contracts and also our lives.

Defenders of the work culture such as business leaders and mainstream politicians habitually question whether pent-up modern workers have the ability to enjoy, or even survive, the open vistas of time and freedom that post-work thinkers envisage for them.

Andy Beckett's long read for The Guardian examines the history of 'work'. He shows how the idea of work defining oneself is a relatively new invention, and how despite counter-culture movements it persevered to become all but unquestionable towards the end of the 20th century. Moreover, he shows how this consensus has rapidly begun to collapse as technology brings 'work' into doubt, and explores what this may mean for the future.