Automation and the Future of Work

Silicon Valley titans, politicians, techno-futurists and social critics have united in arguing that we are living through an era of rapid technological automation, heralding the end of work as such. But does the much-discussed ‘rise of the robots’ really explain the looming jobs crisis?

In Automation and the Future of Work, Aaron Benanav uncovers the deeper-lying stresses on 21st century capitalism, before salvaging from automation discourse its utopian content: the positive vision of a world without work. What social movements, he asks, are required to propel us into post-scarcity? In response to calls for a universal basic income which would maintain a growing army of redundant workers, he offers a counter-proposal.