On the 10th of May, another session from Books of Our Time Debate Cycle, will take place, on the book entitled The Story of Work: A New History of Humankindby Jan Lucassen (2021).
The book will be presented by Professor João Loureiro (ISCTE) and by the researcher António Pedro Marques (Universidade do Porto), followed by a debate moderated by Professor Daniel Seabra Lopes (ISEG).
The event starts at 17.00, in Auditorium 2 (Quelhas, 2nd Floor).
Free admission, subject to pre-registration. Register now HERE.
SYNOPSIS
The first truly global history of work is an upbeat assessment starting from the age of the hunter-gatherer through to the present day We work because we have to, but also because we like it: from hunting-gathering over 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 workr 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 work is split between men, women, and children; the watershed moment of the invention of money; the collective action of workers; as well as the impact of migration, slavery, and the idea of leisure. From peasant farmers in the first agrarian societies through to the precarious existence of today’s gig workers, this surprising account of both cooperation and subordination in work sheds essential light on the opportunities that we face today.