Post-work society

In futurology, political science, and science fiction, a post-work society is a society in which the nature of work has been radically transformed and traditional employment has largely become obsolete due to technological progress.^[1]

Some post-work theorists imagine the complete automation of all jobs, or at least the takeover of all monotonous, rule-based, predictable and repetitive (and thus unworthy of humans) tasks in the future by ultimately cheaper, faster, more efficient, more reliable and more accurate intelligent machines.^[2]^[3] Additionally, these machines can work in harsher conditions and for longer periods of time without stopping than humans,^[4] which is expected to eventually lead to massive economic growth, despite high rates of ever-increasing human unemployment.^[5] Overall, this development would lead to an enormous increase in prosperity, whereby it would be the task of politics to distribute this wealth evenly within the population.^[6]^[7]

Future Directions

Future directions include the reshaping of the human role in the workplace, stressing the relative strengths of humans capable of adapting and integrating technology into their work and interaction. ^[8] In addition to these capabilities, scholars emphasize the importance of humans taking advantage of these relative strengths, offering several areas which humans can remain competent in a rapidly developing workplace. These include emotional intelligence, service orientation, resource management skills, communication skills, and entrepreneurship skills. ^[9]

Other theories of a post-work society focus more on challenging the priority of the work ethic, and on the celebration of nonwork activities.^[10]

Near-term practical proposals closely associated with post-work theory include the implementation of a universal basic income,^[11] as well as the reduction of the length of a working day and the number of days of a working week. Increased focus on what post-work society would look like has been driven by reports such as one that states 47% of jobs in the United States could be automated.^[12] Because of increasing automation and the low price of maintaining an automated workforce compared to one dependent on human labor, it has been suggested that post-work societies would also be ones of post-scarcity.^[13]^[14]

Literature

Kathi Weeks: The problem with work: feminism, Marxism, antiwork politics and postwork imaginaries, 2011, ISBN 978-0-8223-5112-2
Daniel Susskind: WORLD WITHOUT WORK: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond, 2020, ISBN 9781250173515

References

^ Frayne, David. "Towards a Post-Work Society". No. 2. ROAR Magazine.
^ Lynskey, Dorian (2020-01-09). "A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind review – should we be delighted or terrified?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
^ Ox, Audit (2023-07-27). "Chat GPT Creator Sam Altman Says Jobs Will Go Away Because of AI, It Will Not Just Be a Supplement…". Medium. Retrieved 2024-03-20.
^ Beckett, Andy (19 January 2018). "Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
^ Lu, Yiwen (2023-06-14). "Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says". New York Times.
^ "How AI Could Make Everyone Rich". Lifewire. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
^ Clifford, Catherine (2021-03-17). "OpenAI's Sam Altman: Artificial Intelligence will generate enough wealth to pay each adult $13,500 a year". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
^ Bianchini, Massimo, and Stefano Maffei. "Facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Empowering (human) Design Agency and Capabilities through Experimental Learning." Strategic Design Research Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 72-91. Academic Search Ultimate, https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2020.131.06.
^ Kenayathulla, Husaina Banu. "Are Malaysian TVET Graduates Ready for the Future?" Higher Education Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 3, July 2021, pp. 453-67. Academic Search Ultimate, https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12310.
^ Thompson, Derek (2015-06-23). "A World Without Work". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
^ "What Will We All Do in a Post-Work Society?". Treehugger. 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
^ Frey, Carl Benedikt; Osborne, Michael (13 April 2018). "Automation and the future of work – understanding the numbers". Oxford Martin School. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^ Wolla, Scott A. (1 January 2018). "Will Robots Take Our Jobs?". Economic Research - St. Louis Fed. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^ "Traditional employment is becoming obsolete". www.futuretimeline.net. Retrieved 2021-08-27.

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[1] Frayne, David. "Towards a Post-Work Society". No. 2. ROAR Magazine.

[2] Lynskey, Dorian (2020-01-09). "A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind review – should we be delighted or terrified?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-05.

[3] Ox, Audit (2023-07-27). "Chat GPT Creator Sam Altman Says Jobs Will Go Away Because of AI, It Will Not Just Be a Supplement…". Medium. Retrieved 2024-03-20.

[theguardian-4] Beckett, Andy (19 January 2018). "Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-15.

[5] Lu, Yiwen (2023-06-14). "Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says". New York Times.

[6] "How AI Could Make Everyone Rich". Lifewire. Retrieved 2024-03-21.

[7] Clifford, Catherine (2021-03-17). "OpenAI's Sam Altman: Artificial Intelligence will generate enough wealth to pay each adult $13,500 a year". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-03-21.

[8] Bianchini, Massimo, and Stefano Maffei. "Facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Empowering (human) Design Agency and Capabilities through Experimental Learning." Strategic Design Research Journal, vol. 13, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 72-91. Academic Search Ultimate, https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2020.131.06.

[9] Kenayathulla, Husaina Banu. "Are Malaysian TVET Graduates Ready for the Future?" Higher Education Quarterly, vol. 75, no. 3, July 2021, pp. 453-67. Academic Search Ultimate, https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12310.

[10] Thompson, Derek (2015-06-23). "A World Without Work". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2022-10-25.

[11] "What Will We All Do in a Post-Work Society?". Treehugger. 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2022-10-23.

[12] Frey, Carl Benedikt; Osborne, Michael (13 April 2018). "Automation and the future of work – understanding the numbers". Oxford Martin School. Retrieved 2 May 2019.

[13] Wolla, Scott A. (1 January 2018). "Will Robots Take Our Jobs?". Economic Research - St. Louis Fed. Retrieved 2 May 2019.

[:0-14] "Traditional employment is becoming obsolete". www.futuretimeline.net. Retrieved 2021-08-27.

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v t e Critique of work
Historical persons	Abbie Hoffman Edward Bellamy Alfredo M. Bonanno André Gorz Bob Black Günther Anders Guy Debord Heinrich Böll Ivan Illich Mikhail Bakunin Paul Lafargue Walter Benjamin Antonio Negri Bertrand Russell Friedrich Nietzsche Henry David Thoreau Herbert Marcuse Jerry Rubin Josef Pieper Karl Marx Max Stirner Max Weber Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Raoul Vaneigem Renzo Novatore Zo d'Axa
Contemporary persons	Franco Berardi L. Susan Brown Madeleine Bunting David Graeber Michael Hardt Maurizio Lazzarato Claus Peter Ortlieb Roland Paulsen Jeremy Rifkin Penelope Rosemont Mark Slouka Nick Srnicek Claire Wolfe John Zerzan
Terminology and related topics	996 working hour system Absenteeism Abusive supervision Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy Autonomism Bare minimum Monday Bullshit job Coffee badging Corporatocracy Cycle of poverty Dolce far niente Effects of overtime Employee ghosting Extermination through labour Career cushioning Careerism Flextime Forced labour Four-day workweek Funemployment Ghost job Uberisation / Gig worker Glass cliff Happiness economics Honeymoon-hangover effect Hush trip Job crafting Job cuffing Jobless employed Karoshi Loud quitting Neijuan Occupational burnout Occupational safety and health Occupational stress Orange S.A. suicides Overwork Performance punishment Post-work society Precariat Presenteeism Digital presenteeism Productivity theater Professional abuse Protestant work ethic Psychological safety Quick quitting Quiet hiring Quiet promotion Quiet quitting Quiet thriving Lazy girl job Rage applying Refusal of work Resenteeism Right to rest and leisure Sampo generation Sunday scaries Six-hour day Tang ping Technological unemployment Toxic workplace Narcissism Psychopathy Wage slavery Work ethic Workaholic Working poor Work–life interface
Theater, movies, music and art	À Nous la Liberté Office Space Swedish Public Freedom Service "Take This Job and Shove It" The Future of Work and Death The Main Thing Is Work! The Working Class Goes to Heaven Yama—Attack to Attack
Literature	Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral Bartleby, the Scrivener Bonjour paresse Bullshit Jobs The Conquest of Bread Critique of Economic Reason Fight Club Future Primitive and Other Essays In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays Inventing the Future Manifesto Against Work New Escapologist On the Poverty of Student Life The Society of the Spectacle Steal This Book The Abolition of Work The End of Work The Human Use of Human Beings The Idler The Revolution of Everyday Life The Right to Be Lazy The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy
Communities	R/antiwork CrimethInc. Situationist International

Future Directions

Literature

See also

References