Work : a history of how we spend our time / James Suzman ; illustrations, Michelle Fava.

  • Suzman, James
Date:
2021
  • Books

About this work

Description

A revolutionary new history of humankind through the prism of work, from the origins of life on Earth to our ever-more automated present. The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, determines our social status and dictates how we spend most of our time. But this wasn't always the case: for 95% of our species' history, work held a radically different importance. How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies? How did it transform our bodies, our environments, our views on equality and our sense of time? And why, in a time of material abundance, are we working more than ever before? 'For too long, our notions of work have been dominated by economists obsessed with scarcity and productivity. As an anthropologist, James Suzman is here to change that...

Publication/Creation

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.

Physical description

x, 444 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.

Notes

First published: 2020.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

To live is to work -- Idle hands and busy beaks -- Tools and skills -- Fire's other gifts -- 'Original affluent society' -- Ghosts in the forest -- Leaping off the edge -- Feasts and famines -- Time is money -- First machines -- Bright lights -- Malady of infinite aspiration -- Top talent -- Death of a salaryman -- New disease.

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    ZVE.F
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781526605023
  • 1526605023