David Frayne - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
https://davidfraynecom.wordpress.com/
David Frayne is a writer and social researcher interested in the ethics and politics of our work-centred societies and beyond. His first book, 'The Refusal of Work', was published by Zed books in 2015. A follow-up, 'The Work Cure' - an edited collection of critical essays on work and health - will be published by PCCS in 2018. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, The Irish Times, ROAR Magazine, and Contrivers' Review.
David's main teaching areas are introductory sociology, social theory, the sociology of work, and critical and alternative education. He currently works as a Berggruen postdoctoral fellow at New York University.
less
Related Authors
University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
Uploads
Books by David Frayne
Paid work is absolutely central to the culture and politics of capitalist societies, yet today’s ... more 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 critique of work has a rich intellectual history, spanning not only a number of centuries but... more The critique of work has a rich intellectual history, spanning not only a number of centuries but also a range of academic contexts, bringing together insights from areas as diverse as sociology, existential philosophy and political ecology. This chapter aims to give a flavour of this history, broadly charting the foundations, adaptation and rediscovery of critique by a number of key authors. The chapter's approach is roughly chronological, tracing the development of key themes from their origins in Marx and other early utopian writers, through to the Frankfurt School, and into the sociological debates and post-work theories of the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Papers by David Frayne
The post-work thinkers of the twenty-first century – from the Italian Autonomists to André Gorz –... more The post-work thinkers of the twenty-first century – from the Italian Autonomists to André Gorz – represent a valuable, if often neglected, critical resource. These authors imagined a social alternative in which work would no longer be a main source of income, social rights and belonging. In their putative post-work future, advancements in productive technologies and a more equal social distribution of working time would allow everybody to enjoy more free-time and lead more autonomous, less work-centred lives.
This paper highlights the contemporary relevance of post-work thought. Its alternative visions of social development answer to a range of current social problems, from mass unemployment to the psychological strain caused by post-Fordist forms of work organisation and control. From an environmental perspective, post-work visions of development also represent a more sustainable alternative to a society in which mass unemployment is compensated for by an endless programme of economic growth (or what David Graeber has called a proliferation of ‘bullshit jobs’, providing goods and services with questionable social utility). Finally, one of the main strengths of post-work thought is that it has foreshadowed today’s growing disaffection with capitalism’s resource-intensive ‘work-and-spend’ lifestyle – a form of disaffection that is now being documented by a range of social critics (from Juliet Schor to Kate Soper). I finish the paper with some reflections on my own research into the experiences of people who are attempting to reduce their working hours and consume less. I shed some light on why more people might now be resisting the work ethic, and consider evidence to suggest that having more free-time may be integral in allowing people to develop more sustainable practices.
Media by David Frayne
Interview on 'The Refusal of Work' with Luke Mergner, for Contrivers' Review
Article on post-work politics for ROAR magazine
Paid work is absolutely central to the culture and politics of capitalist societies, yet today’s ... more 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 critique of work has a rich intellectual history, spanning not only a number of centuries but... more The critique of work has a rich intellectual history, spanning not only a number of centuries but also a range of academic contexts, bringing together insights from areas as diverse as sociology, existential philosophy and political ecology. This chapter aims to give a flavour of this history, broadly charting the foundations, adaptation and rediscovery of critique by a number of key authors. The chapter's approach is roughly chronological, tracing the development of key themes from their origins in Marx and other early utopian writers, through to the Frankfurt School, and into the sociological debates and post-work theories of the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
The post-work thinkers of the twenty-first century – from the Italian Autonomists to André Gorz –... more The post-work thinkers of the twenty-first century – from the Italian Autonomists to André Gorz – represent a valuable, if often neglected, critical resource. These authors imagined a social alternative in which work would no longer be a main source of income, social rights and belonging. In their putative post-work future, advancements in productive technologies and a more equal social distribution of working time would allow everybody to enjoy more free-time and lead more autonomous, less work-centred lives.
This paper highlights the contemporary relevance of post-work thought. Its alternative visions of social development answer to a range of current social problems, from mass unemployment to the psychological strain caused by post-Fordist forms of work organisation and control. From an environmental perspective, post-work visions of development also represent a more sustainable alternative to a society in which mass unemployment is compensated for by an endless programme of economic growth (or what David Graeber has called a proliferation of ‘bullshit jobs’, providing goods and services with questionable social utility). Finally, one of the main strengths of post-work thought is that it has foreshadowed today’s growing disaffection with capitalism’s resource-intensive ‘work-and-spend’ lifestyle – a form of disaffection that is now being documented by a range of social critics (from Juliet Schor to Kate Soper). I finish the paper with some reflections on my own research into the experiences of people who are attempting to reduce their working hours and consume less. I shed some light on why more people might now be resisting the work ethic, and consider evidence to suggest that having more free-time may be integral in allowing people to develop more sustainable practices.
Interview on 'The Refusal of Work' with Luke Mergner, for Contrivers' Review
Article on post-work politics for ROAR magazine