For Work / Against Work
Debates on the centrality of work

Paths to Paradise: On the Liberation from Work

by Gorz, André (1985)

Abstract

We are moving into a world where a power elite allocates jobs: where commodities buy consumers: where socialist as well as capitalist dogma is an obstacle to comprehension. In this book, Andre Gorz returns to Marx's Grundrisse and the prophecy of early nineteenth century socialists and re-discovers a vision of post-capitalist society founded on the automation of work and the transcending of the exchange economy. He argues that we have reached the precise stage where these utopian insights become a reality. If the socialist movement is to have something to say to a generation whose identity is no longer shaped at work, it must grasp these insights.

Key Passage

Confronted with a technological revolution which permits the production of a growing volume of commodities with diminishing quantities of labour and capital, the aims and methods of economic management clearly cannot remain those of capitalism… Automation takes us beyond capitalism. (p.32)

Keywords

Socialism, Capitalism, Capital, Marx, Marxism, Grundrisse, Post-Capitalism, Automation, Utopia

Themes

Gorz Citations

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