A01=Jan Lucassen
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agriculture
anthropology
Author_Jan Lucassen
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBG
Category=HBTB
Category=JHMC
Category=NHB
Category=NHTB
COP=United States
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division of labor
domestic work
economic history
education
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housework
human history
hunter gatherer
industrial revolution
Language_English
manufacturing
modern world
office work
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prehistory
preindustrial
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replaced by robot
serf
social anthropology
softlaunch
stone age
union
urban labor
volunteer work
wage labor
Product details
- ISBN 9780300267068
- Dimensions: 127 x 197mm
- Publication Date: 25 Oct 2022
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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The first truly global history of work, an upbeat assessment from the age of the hunter-gatherer to the present day
“Beginning in the hunting-and-gathering past, this long view of work shows how little has changed over millennia. Progressing through the rise of cities, wages and markets for labour, it traces a perennial cycle of injustice and resistance—and the age-old desire for more.”—The Economist, “Best Books of 2021”
“Absolutely fascinating. . . . Lucassen’s own compassion shines through this magisterial book.”—Christina Patterson, The Guardian
We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering more than 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs.
Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity’s busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state. He examines how labor is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; and the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure.
From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies to the precarious existence of today’s gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination at work throws essential light on the opportunities we face today.
“Beginning in the hunting-and-gathering past, this long view of work shows how little has changed over millennia. Progressing through the rise of cities, wages and markets for labour, it traces a perennial cycle of injustice and resistance—and the age-old desire for more.”—The Economist, “Best Books of 2021”
“Absolutely fascinating. . . . Lucassen’s own compassion shines through this magisterial book.”—Christina Patterson, The Guardian
We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering more than 700,000 years ago to the present era of zoom meetings, humans have always worked to make the world around them serve their needs.
Jan Lucassen provides an inclusive history of humanity’s busy labor throughout the ages. Spanning China, India, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Lucassen looks at the ways in which humanity organizes work: in the household, the tribe, the city, and the state. He examines how labor is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; and the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure.
From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies to the precarious existence of today’s gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination at work throws essential light on the opportunities we face today.
Jan Lucassen is an honorary fellow at the the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam where he founded the IISH Research Department. He is the coeditor of Globalising Migration History: The Eurasian Experience and the editor of Global Labour History.
