Critical social theory and the end of work / Edward Granter.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Introduction: Critical Social Theory and the End of Work -- Critical Theory -- Critical Theory and critical social theory -- The meaning of the end of work -- Work -- Scope of the book -- Outline of the chapters -- 2. The Beginning of the End of Work -- Introduction -- Definitions of work -- Work in nonindustrial society -- Historical conceptions of work -- Industrialisation and the rise of work -- Conclusion -- 3. Industrialism, Utopia, and the End of Work -- More's Utopia -- The play of the passions: Fourier's utopia -- Etzler's technological utopia -- Bellamy: Work in the rational society -- The work of art and the art of work: William Morris -- Conclusion -- 4. Marx and the End of Work -- Introduction -- Work as the human essence -- Aesthetics and affirmation in work -- Marx's critique of work under capitalism -- Machinery, value and the transformation of work -- Marx, the end of work and the politics of time -- Conclusion -- 5. Marcuse: Needs and Potentialities in the Age of Automation -- Introduction -- Marcuse, needs, and the human essence -- Work and Eros -- Eros and automation -- Work in one dimensional society -- Work and aesthetics in Marcuse -- Marcuse and the new sensibility -- Conclusion -- 6. The Future of Work and Leisure -- Introduction -- Automation, the affluent society and the future of work -- Futurology and revolution: Towards the year 2000 -- The future of work in postindustrial society -- The revolt against the work ethic and the revenge of work -- The end of work, or work resurgent? -- Conclusion -- 7. Andre Gorz: Postindustrial Marxism and the End of Work -- Introduction: Gorz in intellectual context -- Gorz's changing theoretical perspective? -- The end of work, a strategy for labour -- Post scarcity society and the new sensibility -- Reduction of work in Strategy and beyond -- The unfulfilled potential of capitalist technology -- From alienation to heteronomy, the end of work in the electronic era -- New social subjects: The non working non class -- Gorz and Negri on immaterial labour -- Living dead capitalism and the ghost of work -- Conclusion -- 8. Sociology and the End of Work: Classical, Cultural and -- Critical Theories -- Introduction -- The categorisation of social thought -- The establishment of work as sociological category -- Offe and the decline of work: Heterogenisation and rationality -- The debate over the work ethic: Taylorisation, morality and necessity -- Increasing unemployment, decreasing work time -- A note on Bauman and the work ethic -- The end of the industrial community? -- Habermas: work and rationality in the administered society -- Social change, system integration and the obsolescence of work -- The sociological shift -- From production to consumption -- Baudrillard: Shattering the Mirror of Production -- New Times and cultural studies: Consumption as resistance -- Cultural studies in New Times: A critique of consumption -- as resistance -- Conclusion: Consumer society and one dimensional thought -- 9. Travail sans frontieres: Globalisation and the End of Work -- Introduction -- Globalisation in perspective -- Defining globalisation -- Capital, labour, globalisation -- The white heat of neoliberalism -- globalisation and the West -- Exporting jobs, individualising risk -- Deregulate and punish: work under neoliberal globalisation -- Conclusion: work in the global South -- 10. Conclusion: The End of Work as Critical Social Theory.

"Critical Social Theory and the End of Work examines the development and sociological significance of the idea that work is being eliminated through the use of advanced production technology. Granter's engagement with the work of key American and European figures such as Marx, Marcuse, Gorz, Habermas and Negri, focuses his arguments for the abolition of labour as a response to the current socio-historical changes affecting our work ethic and consumer ideology. By combining history of ideas with social theory, this book considers how the 'end of work' thesis has developed and has been critically implemented in the analysis of modern society. His work will appeal to scholars of sociology, history of ideas, social and cultural theory as well as those working in the fields of critical management and sociology of work."--Publisher's website.

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