David Frayne

Paid work is absolutely central to the culture and politics of capitalist societies, yet today's work-centred world is becoming increasingly hostile to the human need for autonomy, spontaneity and community. The grim reality of a society in which some are overworked, whilst others are condemned to intermittent work and unemployment, is progressively more difficult to tolerate. In this thought-provoking book, David Frayne questions the central place of work in mainstream political visions of the future, laying bare the ways in which economic demands colonise our lives and priorities. Drawing on his original research into the lives of people who are actively resisting nine-to-five employment, Frayne asks what motivates these people to disconnect from work, whether or not their resistance is futile, and whether they might have the capacity to inspire an alternative form of development, based on a reduction and social redistribution of work. A crucial dissection of the work-centred nature of modern society and emerging resistance to it, The Refusal of Work is a bold call for a more humane and sustainable vision of social progress.

The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work

The Refusal of Work

"A powerful critique of contemporary discourse that portrays work - paid employment - as a moral imperative, essential for our health and wellbeing. The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on the emerging role of the psychologist and psychotherapist as agents of the state within the welfare system. And they question the deployment of mindfulness and other workplace 'wellness' initiatives in place of more genuine and collective attempts to transform work"--back cover.

David Frayne

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